Pakistan urges immediate implementation: establishing sovereign Palestinian state with Al Quds as Capital

Reaffirming its solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians, Pakistan has called for the implementation of relevant UN resolutions to pave the way for a sovereign state of Palestine, with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital. "This cauldron of conflicts is rooted in the Israeli occupation of the Arab territories," Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, the Pakistani delegate to the General Assembly told the General Assembly on Tuesday.
"The solution therefore, requires nothing less than Israel's complete withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and all other occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan," he said while participating in a debate on the Palestinian question.
Referring to the grave situation in Gaza, the Pakistani delegate urged Israel to seriously reconsider its policies and actions, which were endangering the lives of the besieged Palestinian people and also the peace process-actions which in turn did not serve Israel's own security concerns. "The reverberations of this tragedy have impacted upon regional and international peace and security for generations.
It is time to turn a new page. It is time to make a strong collective push for peace and stability in this region." Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said it was regrettable that as the end of the year approached, the prospects for a peace treaty envisaged by the Annapolis conference had disappeared.But even more regrettable, and of grave concern, was the serious deterioration of the conditions in the occupied territory.
While the international community had expected that the post Annapolis period would be used to undertake immediate and credible confidence building steps aimed at improving the overall environment conducive for the success of the negotiations, the opposite had in fact occurred, he noted.
Asserting that killing of all civilians was unacceptable, he declared that repeated Israeli military attacks and incursions in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the Gaza Strip, had resulted in considerable loss of innocent life and injuries, including among women and children. He reiterated Pakistan's call on all sides to reject violence and instead respect their own obligations under international human rights law and humanitarian law.
Continuing, Ahmad said confidence would not be built in the face of incessant actions involving use of force, human rights violations, discrimination, erection of checkpoints, and blockades of entire populations resulting in social and economic strangulation and collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Further, Israel had to honour its commitments and obligations to demonstrate its credibility and desire for peace. "It must shun the use of force, immediately halt the construction of the separation Wall, stop its colonisation campaign of settlements, and demolish outposts as promised at Annapolis and remove the blockades of the Gaza Strip," he said.