Leaders at an all-party conference (APC) reiterated their resolve to stand by Palestinians subjected to Israeli atrocities for a year.
The federal government hosted the all-party conference at the President’s House in Islamabad to show solidarity with Palestine and condemnation of Israel’s atrocities in the Middle East
President Asif Ali Zardari, PM Shehbaz, Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani, federal cabinet ministers and senior political leaders, including PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, Bilawal, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Hafiz Naeem and other key party leaders attended the APC
President Zardari expressed deep concerns over the growing Israeli adventurism in the region and escalation of tension, calling for the international community’s role to take swift action to restore peace and prevent conflict from spilling over.
The president said that during the last year, the Israeli occupation forces had killed over 41,800 Palestinians, besides destroying infrastructure.
He pointed out that Israel had even expanded its relentless attacks to target Lebanon, Syria and Yemen and endangered regional and global peace and security.
He said that the international community needed to take swift action to de-escalate the tension and prevent further loss of lives and conflict from spilling over to other parts of the region.
He said that regrettably, the international community had failed to stop Israel from committing genocide against the Palestinian population, specifically in Gaza, and also questioned the prevailing situation of impunity.
He also emphasised the UN Security Council (UNSC) to fulfil its responsibility of establishing peace and security in Palestine and Lebanon. He reiterated Pakistan’s decades-old stance for a two-state solution by establishing an independent Palestine state based on pre-1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Zardari stressed that peace in the Middle East could not be achieved without resolving the Palestine issue per the UNSC resolutions.
Calling for a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestine, he also asked the UNSC to restrain Israel from violating international laws to restore peace in the Middle East.
The president reiterated Pakistan’s position of total withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied Arab territories, including Jerusalem and restoring the inalienable right of Palestinian people to self-determination.
Nawaz Sharif termed the brutal attacks on Palestinians as one of the “worst examples in history” and said everyone was aggrieved by the bloodied pictures on social media coming out of Gaza of children.
He criticised the global community’s silence on the matter, saying that many still did not consider it a human rights issue but framed it as a religious conflict.
“It seems the UN is completely helpless. There is no implementation of its passed resolutions.”
He said Israel was carrying out its actions with stubbornness. uncaring of UN resolutions. “The UN also does not seem to care that it is a very big global body and yet it can’t get its resolution implemented, similar to Kashmir,” Nawaz added.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif stressed that Pakistan would continue to extend its moral, diplomatic and political support to the unarmed Palestinian brothers and sisters who have been subjected to unrelenting Israeli aggression and oppression.
He added: “The Government of Pakistan will continue its support to the Palestinian brothers and sisters till the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Bait ul Muqaddas as its capital.”
“Today the entire nation, including him, the prime minister said, was observing a day of solidarity with their unarmed Palestinian brothers and sisters.
“Today, as we observe Palestine Solidarity Day at the national level in Pakistan, my message to the whole world is to ensure practical steps to stop the massacre of Palestinians.”
The prime minister said that Pakistan would not leave its Palestinian brothers and sisters in these difficult times.
On October 7, he said, a year had passed since a new wave of Israeli atrocities on Palestinians was unleashed.
Israel while mocking at the world powers, international institutions, Security Council resolutions and the International Court of Justice. has so far massacred 41,000 unarmed Palestinians, including children, the elderly and women, millions were left injured whereas millions of others had been displaced.
Millions of Palestinians, starving and thirsty, were still bracing the indiscriminate bombardment, the prime minister said, adding Gaza was currently lying in ruins after the worst bombing and the silence of global powers was as condemnable and bothersome as Israel’s atrocities.
The prime minister said that Israeli terrorism had not started on October 7, 2023, but had been continuing in the last seven decades.
“Israel’s state terrorism is now engulfing not only Gaza and Palestine but other countries in the region. History is witness that whenever the world powers supported such state terrorism instead of stopping it, the whole world suffered irreparable losses,” he observed.
He said Pakistan, following its founder, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, did not recognize the State of Israel that was standing based on oppression and illegal occupation, but also strongly condemned its oppression and reiterated its commitment to raise its voice against it at all international fora.
The hearts of the Pakistani government and its people beat with their unarmed Palestinian brothers and sisters, he added.
Recently, the prime minister said, at every international forum, he raised his voice in front of all countries against Israel’s continuing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and Palestine.
Pakistan had not only provided humanitarian aid to its unarmed Palestinian brothers and sisters but was also ensuring education in the Pakistani institutions of those Palestinian medical students whose education had been interrupted due to the prevailing tense situation, he added.
A year passed since the outbreak of catastrophic violence in the Gaza Strip that claimed thousands of lives of innocent Palestinians.
The fighting sparked after Hamas fighters entered southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 100 hostages remain held by Hamas.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry, and drew global condemnation, calls for a ceasefire and legal proceedings against Israel in the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
Resolution
The leaders adopted a unanimous resolution expressing unwavering support for the right of the people of Palestine to self-determination.
“We express our unwavering support for the inalienable right of the people of Palestine to self-determination and for the relevant OIC and UN resolutions on Palestine that call for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian Territories and a peaceful and negotiated solution to the conflict.
“The declarations assure the people of Palestine of all parties’ unwavering support for achieving the right of self-determination and unequivocally condemn the ongoing Israeli aggression in Palestine in the strongest terms.
“We call on OIC to convene an emergency summit to discuss the situation in Palestine, Israel’s brutal aggression in the region and its implications for the regional peace and security and underscores the need for unity in the Islamic Ummah.
“Pakistan will increase and redouble efforts to deliver political, diplomatic, moral and humanitarian support.
“The declaration demands an immediate ceasefire and the end of aggression in Gaza,” he read. “We also demand the immediate, unimpeded provision of humanitarian aid and to hold Israel accountable for violations of international law, war crimes and genocide.
The resolution added: “All parties support political and diplomatic efforts for peace and stability by the OIC, Arab League and other international organisations.
“Pakistan supports an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital and calls for Palestine’s full membership at the UN.”
The leaders express deep concern at the impunity with which Israel is waging the war and endangering regional peace and security, and its continued violations of international law and the UN Charter, including recent aggression against Lebanon and attacks in the West Bank.
“The killing of the leaders of Hamas in Tehran, and the Secretary General of Hezbollah in Lebanon are threats to regional peace and security.”
It called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and an end to atrocities against the Palestinian people. lifting the siege of Gaza; Uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance; and holding Israel accountable for violations of international law, war crimes and acts of genocide;
It expressed support for the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) in providing relief to the Palestinian people.
The dispatch of 10 consignments of humanitarian aid by Pakistan to the people of Gaza and medical aid assistance to the people of Lebanon was also appreciated in the resolution.
The resolution calls for continuing humanitarian assistance to the brotherly people of Palestine, including educational opportunities for Palestinian students and medical treatment for injured Palestinian children in Pakistan.
A request was also made to the government to observe November 29, 2024 as a day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The resolution also affirmed the right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination and called for the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people and the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.