UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (APP): Pakistan has endorsed a call by Palestine’s lead negotiator for renewed international focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an effort to correct the historic justice, paving the way for peace in the Middle East.
“We understand the excruciating pain of Palestinians as they pass through these difficult times of occupation and extreme privation,” Ambassador Masood Khan told the Palestinian Rights Committee on Monday.
“Continued attention of the international community is extremely important.”
The Pakistani envoy spoke after Saeb Erakat, a prominent Palestinian official, said they were exerting every possible effort to ensure the success of current efforts to re-start peace negotiations with Israel. Calling on member states to make their positions on the issue clear, Erakat underlined how important it was that US Secretary of State John Kerry succeed in bringing about a resumption of talks.
In his remarks, Ambassador Masood Khan said, “While the US engagement is welcome, the Quartet—comprising the U.N., European Union, the U.S. and Russia—and the Security Council should also play their role in this regard.”
Resumption of the peace process should mean action with clear benchmarks and deadlines, he added. “A sustainable resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict lies only through the establishment of an independent, viable and contiguous State of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” the Pakistani envoy told the committee.
“The very important and major concession afforded by the Arab League in this regard should be appreciated.” Masood Khan said, “Two States, living side by side, in peace and security, is the goal that we ought to pursue single-mindedly".
“All Security Council resolutions relating to Palestine, including Resolution 1860 must be fully implemented. Settlement activity must stop, Palestinian detainees must be released, religious freedom should be restored , efforts aimed at financially stifling the Palestinian Authority must stop".
The culture of impunity must end. “Peace in the Middle East has been a continuing quest for more than six decades. Pakistan has all along been a supporter of the inalienable right to self-determination for Palestine. Let me assure you of our continued unflinching support.”
Erakat, describing himself as the most disadvantaged negotiator in the history of mankind, pointed out that he had no army, navy, air force or economy, and that his people were fragmented.
Nonetheless, Israel faced a stark choice: it could choose live and let live, which called for two States based on the 1967 borders, or it could go for one State.
The Palestinian negotiator said that, while he could talk to Israeli negotiators about that option, the persistence of the current situation was not at all possible.
The status quo would not be maintained under any circumstances, and the apartheid existing today could not last, he emphasized, pointing out that the Palestinian population was growing faster than the Israeli one.
Erakat said he had no conditions for re-starting negotiations. A halt to settlement activity was not a condition, but a must.
Israel needed to make a choice: settlements or peace. Kerry was working on three tracks political, economic and security with all three closely interlinked as a package.
However, he said Israel continued to claim it had no partner, likening that complaint to a broken record. Palestine could have Mother Teresa as President, Montesquieu (French political thinker) as Speaker and Thomas Jefferson (former U.S. president and a renowned political philosopher) as Prime Minister but Israel would still manage to relate them back to Osama Bin Laden, he added.
