ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar on Monday said that ‘Greater Israel’ plan by Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu would further aggravate instability in the region.
He stated while addressing the extraordinary 21st session OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) held in Jeddah.
“The brazen audacity of the so-called Israeli Cabinet in unveiling its ominous plan to extend Israel’s full military control over Gaza as well as the Israeli Prime Minister’s recent allusion to the creation of a ‘Greater Israel’ provide an insight into Israel’s annexationist and rogue mindset,” he remarked.
Pakistan strongly condemns these highly escalatory and dangerous statements of Israeli PM, calling for actions that will further aggravate the prevailing grave humanitarian situation and suffering of the civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in addition to undermining international efforts aimed at achieving peace and stability in the region, Dar added.
He emphasised Gaza has become a graveyard for innocent lives as well as for the international law, particularly the International Humanitarian Law (IHL). “Over 60,000 Palestinians - most of them women and children - have been killed in Israel’s brutal military assault. The systematic targeting of hospitals, schools, UN facilities, aid convoys and refugee camps are not incidental, these are wanton acts of collective punishment in full world view,” he further said.
Gaza was enduring a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe, DPM said, adding nearly two years, it has suffered indiscriminate bombardment, total blockade, and deliberate deprivation and starvation — while violence and dispossession escalate in the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem.
“The so-called humanitarian system put in place by the occupying power is a cruel illusion. Famine is rampant. Civilians are being shot trying to collect food.”
The hunger crisis in Gaza, he said, has reached unprecedented and deeply alarming levels.
Against this backdrop, Israel exhibits its characteristic sordid insensitivity to international norms. In recent days, a slew of highly provocative and unwarranted statements have emerged from Israel which spotlight its growing disdain and absolute contempt for the international order.
“We joined the statement issued by the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, along with other countries, in expressing strong condemnation and categorical rejection of the Israeli announcement, denouncing it as an unacceptable escalation and a brazen attempt to entrench illegal occupation by coercion,” DPM pointed out.
Pakistan also fully endorsed and joined the statement issued by 31 Arab-Islamic countries along with the Secretaries General of the OIC, the League of Arab States and the Gulf Cooperation Council condemning the Israeli PM’s outrageous insinuation to the creation of a so-called ‘Greater Israel’. His statement constitutes a direct threat to Arab national security, to the sovereignty of states, and to regional and international peace and security. Pakistan expresses its deep appreciation to all the states and stakeholders that are playing a role in advancing peace in Gaza. Their ongoing contributions and steadfast support remain essential in the pursuit of stability and justice for the Palestinian people, he stressed.
Pakistan also welcomes the growing international momentum in support of the Palestinian statehood and full membership of the UN. We urge those states that have yet to recognize the State of Palestine to do so as soon as they can.
The Palestinian question is a litmus test for the credibility of the so-called “rules-based order”. Failure to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people will embolden impunity and undermine the legitimacy of the very order we all claim to defend and uphold.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025