UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s permanent representative in the UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi has said that Pakistan will fully support and co-sponsor resolution for the withdrawal of US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
While addressing the OIC Ambassadorial Group at the United Nations on Tuesday, Maleeha Lodhi said: “Our support to the Palestinian cause and to the defence of al-Quds al-Sharif is and has always been a core principle of Pakistan’s foreign policy.”
She added, “Our support remains unwavering.” The OIC Ambassadorial Group met ahead of the UN General Assembly’s special emergency session on Jerusalem status.
Ambassador Lodhi recalled that the first-ever stand-alone General Assembly resolution on Jerusalem, GA Resolution 2253, adopted on July 4, 1967, at an Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly, was led and sponsored by Pakistan.
Thursday’s special session has been convened jointly by the Arab Group and the OIC following the US veto of the UN Security Council resolution rejecting US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“The US veto (on Monday) of a resolution calling for the withdrawal of the decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was doubling down on an already dangerously misplaced strategy, in perhaps the most sensitive geopolitical hotspot in the world,” the Pakistani envoy said.
“While the initial decision itself was dangerous, the veto attempted to legitimise a declaration that is already null and void, and lacks any legality.”
President Trump abruptly reversed decades of US policy when he recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, generating outrage from the Arab and Islamic world and even concern among Washington’s allies.
The draft resolution, submitted to the Assembly, affirms “that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council”.
The draft resolution calls upon all countries to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.
“While the initial decision (US recognition of Israel) itself was dangerous, the veto attempted to legitimise a declaration that is already null and void, and lacks any legality,” the Pakistani envoy said, adding that the international community will not be complicit in an illegal act.
“This move undermines the international legal system and does not enable the Middle East to move in the direction of any revival of the peace process settlement,” the ambassador said.
“In fact,” she said, “it further destabilises an already volatile and violent situation in the region.”
“Not only does it diminish the prospects of peace, but it will further embolden the occupying power into defiance,” the Pakistani envoy said. “It is therefore important for all of us in the global community to speak up in order to raise the political cost for the US for taking a wrong decision.”
Under a 1950 decision resolution, an emergency session can be called for the General Assembly to consider a matter “with a view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective measures” if the Security Council fails to act.
Only 10 such sessions have been convened, and the last time the General Assembly met was in 2009 on occupied Jerusalem and Palestinian territories. Thursday’ session will be a resumption of that session.
