UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has expressed support to any OIC initiative to alleviate plight of the Palestinians and deplored the failure of the UN Security Council to condemn the deadly violence by Israeli troops in Gaza against the Palestinians.
Speaking at an emergency meeting of OIC ambassadors at the United Nations Pakistan’s permanent representative Maleeha Lodhi, deplored that one country has again blocked the unanimous call of the 14 other members of the Security Council, to issue a statement merely calling for an independent investigation into the incidents.
She described a call by some countries for both sides to exercise “restraint” a “disingenuous attempt” to equate the occupying power with the Palestinians.
She said the US action to shift its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is egregious violation of international law and contravention of the UN Charter’s prohibition of the forcible acquisition of territory. They also gravely undermined any prospect of a two-state solution in the Middle East.
Pakistan has decided to observe “Palestine Solidarity Day” on May 18 countrywide.
According to Prime Minister Office, PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi directed the day to be observed across the country. “The government and the people of Pakistan would continue supporting their Palestinian brethren and present their case at every forum,” the statement said quoting the prime minister.
The day is aimed to demonstrate complete solidarity with the Palestinians in wake of Israeli troops killing dozens of Palestinians during clashes and protests along the Gaza border against the US embassy opening in Jerusalem on Monday – the conflict’s bloodiest day in years.
In the bloodiest single day for Palestinians since 2014, Palestinian Health Ministry officials said more than 100 protesters were killed and 2,700 injured by live gunfire, tear gas or other means used by Israeli troops.
Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move that is not recognized internationally, as its “eternal and indivisible capital”.
Peace talks aimed a finding a two-state solution to the conflict have been frozen since 2014.
