Jewish settlements halting Middle East peace process: Haroon

Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN says settlement activity and peace process cannot move together.

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s Envoy to the United Nations (UN) Abdullah Hussain Haroon on Wednesday told the UN General Assembly that Palestinians should not be expected to negotiate when their land is taken over in the name of “new settlements.”

Pakistan has made a fervent call on the international community to help break the stalemate in the Middle East peace process resulting from Israel’s policy of building Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territories.

Haroon said that settlement activity and the peace process cannot move together.

The envoy reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for the Palestine’s struggle for the right to independence. He said that the peace process leading to a final settlement was stalled by the Israeli regime’s constant expansionist policy.

He said there was no reversal in the deteriorating living conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, while Israeli defiance of the international community on the issue of settlements and its high level of impunity were destroying the peace process and inflicting innumerable hardships on the Palestinian people under its illegal occupation.

The envoy called on Israel to ease its blockade of Gaza and to allow the free flow of people and commerce.

The present stalemate in the peace process could not be broken without sustained and meaningful engagement by the international community, said Haroon, emphasizing that it was important for the international community to work on halting Israeli settlement and helping Palestinians strengthen state and institution building.

Haroon said that Palestine should also be ensured of a progress on the status of the UN membership application.

Lasting solutions to the wider Arab-Israeli conflict were essential to comprehensive peace in the Middle East, the envoy said, stressing that it was imperative to address its root cause, the Israeli occupation of Arab territories.

People of all races and religions in the Middle East had suffered for the last six decades, he pointed out, underscoring the need for concerted action and political will to build a lasting peace that could save succeeding generations from the tragedies and tribulations of their ill fated predecessors.