Pakistan urges UN Security Council to pressure Israel over settlements in occupied Palestinian territories

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, has called for an end to the Israeli occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), saying “the ultimate goal is an end to the Israeli occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

“The creation of an independent, sovereign and contiguous Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds and Al-Sharif as its capital, remains the only guarantee of lasting peace in the region,” Ahmad said during his speech at the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue.

“It is time for the Security Council to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the situation throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory and firmly address the obstacles to peace. First, the Council must compel Israel to immediately and completely cease all its settlement activities, which constitute a blatant violation of international law,” he said.

“Second, all attempts at land annexation, demolitions, forced evictions and displacement of Palestinians must be stopped and reversed. The Palestinian population must be protected from settler violence, and all perpetrators must be held fully accountable. The Council must reiterate its strong rejection of forced displacement,” the ambassador said.

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“Third, the Council must pressure Israel, the occupying Power, to release without further delay the revenues of the Palestinian Authority to address the growing budgetary crisis. Fourth, the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict and Resolution 2803 must be fully implemented,” he added.

Referring to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Iftikhar said: “In Gaza, although the Peace Council has overseen the improvement of humanitarian conditions, the situation remains dire. Widespread hunger, severe shortages of clean water and medical care, inadequate sanitation, and the uncontrolled spread of disease have left more than 90 percent of the population living in catastrophic conditions.

Despite the ceasefire, 981 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed. The recent report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry constitutes a scathing indictment of the deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian children by Israeli occupying forces. There has to be accountability for this.”

Regarding developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, he said: “What we are witnessing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) is not a series of isolated incidents, but a deliberate and systemic pattern. It is an ecosystem of occupation in which settlement expansion, annexation, demolitions, forced evictions, displacement, and withholding of revenue are mutually reinforcing – enabled both by brutal military force and by a legal weight designed to legitimize the illegitimate.

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“This is not chaos; it is a framework calculated to consolidate the illegal Israeli occupation,” he said.

Highlighting the situation in the West Bank, Iftikhar said: “The West Bank is experiencing its largest and deadliest wave of settlement expansion and the highest and sustained levels of settler violence.”

The Secretary-General’s report indicates that 4,750 housing units were advanced or approved during the reporting period, including 34 settlements approved in a single cabinet decision – the highest to date,” he added.