Pakistan’s voice at the United Nations this week carried both urgency and moral clarity. Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan, strongly condemned Israel’s continued settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, particularly the controversial E-1 plan that threatens to sever East Jerusalem from Palestinian areas and dismantle the territorial contiguity of the West Bank. His words reflected not just Pakistan’s longstanding support for Palestine but also the international consensus that settlements are illegal, unjust, and corrosive to any prospect of peace.
The scale of settlement expansion, detailed in the UN Secretary-General’s latest report, is staggering. Between June and September, Israeli authorities advanced or approved more than 20,000 housing units in occupied territory, while demolitions and evictions of Palestinian homes increased. Nearly 420 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were displaced during this period alone. These figures are not just numbers; they represent a systematic attempt to erase Palestinian presence from their own land. As Ambassador Ahmad warned, if the Security Council cannot enforce its own resolutions-particularly Resolution 2334, which explicitly calls for a halt to settlements-it risks losing credibility altogether.
The E-1 settlement plan epitomizes this danger. By cutting East Jerusalem off from the West Bank, it would make a contiguous Palestinian state geographically impossible, burying the two-state solution that remains the only viable framework for peace. Israel’s defiance of international law, and its accelerating settlement policies, reveal a clear intent to predetermine realities on the ground, rendering negotiations meaningless. Pakistan’s warning at the UN was not only timely but essential: unless the world acts now, the window for peace will slam shut.
At the same time, the Pakistani envoy acknowledged “glimmers of hope.” The Two-State Solution Conference co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, the recognitions of Palestine by several states, and regional diplomatic initiatives suggest that global support for Palestinian statehood is deepening. Pakistan’s pledge to work constructively with partners to promote consensus underscores its role as a responsible actor, committed not to rhetoric but to outcomes that alleviate Palestinian suffering and preserve the possibility of peace.
The humanitarian toll of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank remains catastrophic. Since the war began in October 2023, more than 66,000 Palestinians-most of them women and children-have been killed. Gaza’s homes, schools, and hospitals lie in ruins, while its people face not just bombardment from the sky but starvation on the ground. Ambassador Ahmad’s words-“Gaza is not only being bombed; its people are being starved”-captured the cruel duality of violence and blockade. The forced displacement of nearly a million people in Gaza, with no safe refuge left, is nothing less than ethnic cleansing unfolding in plain sight.
Against this backdrop, Pakistan’s call was unambiguous: an immediate ceasefire; lifting the blockade on Gaza; unimpeded humanitarian access; release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners; a categorical rejection of annexation; and full implementation of Resolution 2334. These steps, he stressed, are prerequisites to preserving the two-state solution and launching a credible political process leading to a sovereign, independent Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. The message was firm: “The people of Palestine cannot wait.”
The international community must ask itself: how long will it tolerate this open defiance of international law? Each demolition, each settlement, each airstrike that targets civilians chips away at the already fragile trust in the global order. If UN resolutions can be ignored without consequence, what faith can oppressed peoples anywhere have in the legitimacy of the international system? The Security Council cannot afford paralysis; its silence or inaction only emboldens aggressors and deepens suffering.
Pakistan’s consistent advocacy for Palestinian rights carries a moral weight born of its own history and sacrifices. It understands the price of conflict, the importance of justice, and the need for multilateralism in securing peace. By aligning itself with initiatives from both the Islamic world and Western partners, Pakistan has shown that it is willing to bridge divides in pursuit of justice for Palestine. But this pursuit must be matched by real commitments from powerful states-commitments that go beyond words to sanctions, accountability, and pressure where it matters most.
The road to peace in the Middle East will not be easy, but it begins with halting the very policies that make peace impossible. Settlement expansion is not just a “complication” for negotiations-it is the deliberate destruction of any path to coexistence. The international community must recognize this reality and act with urgency. For without justice in Palestine, peace in the region will remain an illusion.
Pakistan’s statement at the UN was, above all, a reminder that silence is complicity. The question is no longer whether the two-state solution is desirable-it is whether the world is willing to defend it before it disappears altogether.
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