Daily Times

Pakistan has called on the UN Security Council to act “decisively” to enforce a ceasefire in Gaza, unleashing punitive measures against Israel, such as an arms embargo, for its aggression against the enclave and the wider Middle East to usher in peace and security.

“Pleading with Israel has done no good,” Ambassador Munir Akram, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, told the 15-member Council, which held a day-long debate on the Situation in the Middle East on Tuesday.

He added, “We must mobilize the political consensus to enforce an immediate and unconditional ceasefire under Chapter VII of the UN Charter,” which allows the Security Council to take enforcement action to maintain international peace and security.

The Pakistani envoy said that Israel’s ongoing aggression was not only destabilizing the region, it posed a systemic threat to global peace and security and world order. “There is no precedent for Israel’s rogue behaviour,” Ambassador Akram remarked.

The Security Council, he said, should propose robust measures to impose a cost on Israel for its defiance, including an arms embargo; accountability of those responsible for the crimes being committed in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon through appropriate judicial mechanisms; review of Israel’s membership in the UN; and such other measures as can be agreed by the Council, the General Assembly and individual member states.

Opening the debate, held under Switzerland’s presidency, Tor Wennesland, UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, warned that the unrelenting war in the Middle East was further diminishing the prospects for a resolution in the region, as he urged all efforts to de-escalate the situation towards an immediate ceasefire and, ultimately, the two-State solution.

“We are … at the most dangerous juncture in the Middle East in decades,” the UN official warned. Noting his visit to the Gaza Strip last week, Wennesland recalled the immense destruction of residential buildings, roads, hospitals, and schools, and thousands living in makeshift tents, with nowhere else to go as winter nears.

He said his fellow UN colleagues and their humanitarian partners have also described the dire situation in northern Gaza, which has received virtually no humanitarian assistance since the start of October.

In his remarks, Ambassador Akram went on to say that the world was also witnessing the most egregious violations of international humanitarian law in recent history, what the ICJ (International Court of Justice) has called “plausible genocide”.

“The humanitarian crisis is being deliberately exacerbated by the blockade of aid and a strategy of starvation. The targeted shutdown of UNRWA – a lifeline for the Palestinians, especially in Gaza – is part of this genocidal campaign,” he said, adding, “Clearly, this deliberate and inhuman aggression reflects the extremist agenda of Israeli leaders, who are seeking to ensure their political survival by expanding the conflict, perpetuating the occupation and preventing a two-state solution.”

Unchecked Israeli aggression – against Lebanon, Syria, and Iran – which Pakistan has condemned, also threatens a wider war engulfing the entire Middle East, the Pakistani envoy said.

The reasons for Israel’s sense of impunity are self-evident: Israel continues to receive unimpeded weapons supplies to sustain its campaign of aggression and slaughter of innocents.

“The Security Council and the global community now face a decisive choice: we must take concrete actions to uphold the UN Charter and international legality or risk a collapse of the world order built on the foundations of the UN Charter, with more and more states acting with impunity and aggression against their neighbours,” he said.

In this regard, Ambassador Akram also underscored the need for breaking Israel’s humanitarian blockade of Gaza, in order to allow essential supplies, food, and medical aid into the besieged enclave. Israel, he added, must not be permitted to delegitimize UNRWA.

At the same time, Ambassador Akram called for initiating a political process for durable peace that includes the withdrawal of Israeli military forces from the Occupied Palestinian Territory; end to its unlawful policies and practices; dismantling illegal settlements; reparation for damages caused; compliance with the ICJ’s orders; implementation of the right of return for displaced Palestinians; and ensuring that the Palestinians will be able to exercise their right to self-determination and to establish sovereign, independence and contiguous state in their homeland.

He added that Palestine must be immediately admitted as a full member state to make the two-state solution irreversible.

“The time for half measures has passed: We must act – and act now – to prevent further bloodshed and work towards a lasting solution based on humanity, justice, and security for the Palestinians and all the States of the region,” Ambassador Akram said in conclusion.