Pakistan urges UN Security Council to pressure Israel over settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory

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

“The establishment of an independent, sovereign and contiguous State of Palestine on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds and Al-Sharif as its capital, remains the only guarantee for lasting peace in the region,” Ahmad said in his address to the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue.

“It is time for the Security Council to undertake a holistic 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 settlement activities, which constitute a flagrant 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 fully held accountable. The Council must reiterate its firm rejection of forced displacement,” the ambassador said.

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“Third, the Council must put pressure on Israel, the occupying power, to release Palestinian Authority revenues without further delay to address the growing fiscal 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, while the Peace Board has monitored improvements in humanitarian conditions, the situation remains dire. Widespread hunger, severe shortages of clean water and healthcare, inadequate sanitation and the rampant 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, have died. The recent Independent Commission of Inquiry report is a scathing indictment of the deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian children by Israeli occupation forces. “There must be accountability for this.”

On 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. This is an ecosystem of occupation in which settlement expansion, annexation, demolitions, forced evictions, displacement and income withholding are mutually reinforcing, thanks to brute military force and a legal behemoth designed to legitimize the illegitimate.

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

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

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