Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on  expressed the hope that the new US administration following last week’s elections would lend its weight to reinvigorate efforts for peace in the Middle East in accordance with the UN resolutions and international law, as a priority. Addressing the Council of Foreign Ministers’ Preparatory Meeting for the Second Arab-Islamic Summit on the Situation in Middle East, the deputy prime minister highlighted that mere condemnation of Israeli actions will not be enough. He also stressed to act now to fulfil the moral and legal duty to stand with the people of Palestine for their rights and demand justice for them. “The whole Muslim Ummah is looking at us today. We need to demonstrate unwavering political will and complete unity and take concrete steps to effectively address the situation at hand.”

He stressed for securing an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and the region, ensuring unfettered humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, forcing Israel to stop demonization of UNRWA and urging the UNGA to ensure UNRWA continues its vital operations. Ishaq Dar also called for pursuing full implementation of the UNGA resolution ES-10/24, supporting Palestine’s admission as a full member of the UN, exploring legal avenues to hold Israel accountable for war crimes, imposing an immediate arms embargo on Israel, undertaking a comprehensive review of Israel’s membership of the UN, and nominating a Joint Arab-Islamic Special Envoy on Middle East as a focal point to coordinate progress on the implementation of the Resolutions adopted by the Joint-Arab-Islamic Summits. He said the first Joint Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh in November last year had adopted far-reaching decisions to end war in Gaza. However he said unfortunately, after more than a year, the situation in the Middle East had become worse.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan