Fatemi underscores nurgency of resolving Gaza problem at UN

Tariq Fatemi, a top Pakistani diplomat, who held a series of meetings at the United Nations on Monday, underscored the urgent need to end the violence in Gaza where brutal Israeli attacks have left more than a thousand Palestinians dead and many more injured, officials said.
Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, flew into New York on Monday morning from Washington and went straight to the UN Headquarters where he addressed a meeting of the Security Council and later met Jan Eliasson, the UN deputy secretary-general, Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, and Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour. At every meeting, he made it a point to raise the Gaza issue, while deploring Israeli atrocities.
While speaking at a special meeting of the Security Council on peacekeeping operations, the special assistant called on the 15-member body to take effective action to resolve the Palestinian question and bring about peace and stability in the region. "The global citizenry is demanding that this body should be more assertive and effective in addressing the issues in the Middle East and Ukraine," he said.
"This body, the Security Council, has to live up to its promises and prove to the world that it is succeeding in its declared objectives namely in maintaining international peace and security; and the United Nations as a whole has the political will and the capability to prevent and resolve conflicts," Fatemi said, while pointing out that the spotlight was on it.
During his meeting with Eliasson of the UN, the special assistant called for stepping up efforts to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and ease the suffering of the Palestinian people. While talking to Ambassador Power, Fatemi said the US, as a permanent member of the Security Council, had special responsibility to restore peace and stability in the region. He said that the Israeli aggressive actions enraged the public opinion in Pakistan and other Islamic countries and also called into question the effectiveness and the credibility of the Security Council.
With the Palestinian ambassador, the special assistant expressed Pakistan's solidarity and support to the Palestinian cause. He said the people of Pakistan were behind their Palestinian brethren and drew his attention to Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif's unequivocal statement in their support.