{"id":18985,"date":"2023-10-28T23:57:03","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T23:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/at-unga-pakistan-stoutly-defends-jordanian-peace-draft-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-10-28T23:57:03","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T23:57:03","slug":"at-unga-pakistan-stoutly-defends-jordanian-peace-draft-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/at-unga-pakistan-stoutly-defends-jordanian-peace-draft-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"At UNGA, Pakistan stoutly defends Jordanian peace draft | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nUNITED NATIONS:
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The balanced Jordanian-led resolution calling for a \u201chumanitarian truce\u201d in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict survived a last-minute Western attempt to tilt the draft in Israel\u2019s favour as it collapsed due to some hard work by its sponsors and a compelling speech by Pakistan\u2019s top diplomat Munir Akram.<\/p>\n

Canada, backed by the United States, moved an amendment ahead of the vote in the UN General Assembly that would have the draft unequivocally reject and condemn \u201cthe terrorist attacks by Hamas\u201d in Israel which started on October 7 and the taking of hostages.<\/p>\n

In return, Canadian Ambassador Robert Rae, on behalf of the amendment\u2019s sponsors, said if that language was worked into the Jordanian text, they would all vote for it. The offer to back the resolution was meant to gather support for the Israeli push to seek international condemnation of Hamas,<\/p>\n

Significantly, India, now a strategic ally of Israel, voted for the amendment which failed to muster the required two-thirds majority, having received 88 votes in favour to 55 against, with 23 abstentions.<\/p>\n

During the lunch break the resolution\u2019s sponsors lobbied with delegates to ensure that it retained sufficient support for passage in the 193-member Assembly.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Akram, the permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, spearheaded the effort to defeat the amendment as the Assembly prepared to take action on it.<\/p>\n

In a well-reasoned speech, he appealed to all member states not to support the Canadian amendment which, he called, one-sided, unequal and unfair.<\/p>\n

While the Canadian envoy insists on naming Hamas, he does not feel the need to name Israel for killing 7000 Palestinians and injuring 17,000, the Pakistani envoy told delegates in the crowded General Assembly hall. \u201cOnly Hamas. Is this balance?\u201d, he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are fair, if you are equitable, if you are just, you will not blame one side and not the other. If you were to go back to the issue of who started this (conflict), we all know who started this \u2014 It is 50 years of Israeli occupation and the murder and killing of Palestinians with impunity that started this.<\/p>\n

Read also: UNSC failed Gazans, Kashimiris: Pak envoy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you push a people into the corner, he will respond,\u201d Ambassador Akram added,<\/p>\n

Noting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres\u2019 comment that the current conflict \u201cdid not happen in a vacuum\u201d, he denounced the \u201cdisrespectful\u201d response to it from the Israeli diplomats.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the reaction that came from the Israeli representative, insulting the Secretary-General and calling for his resignation,\u201d the Pakistani envoy said, adding, \u201cThey can\u2019t face the truth. They can\u2019t face justice. They can\u2019t face the fact that the crime has originated with the Israelis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israeli occupation is the original sin in this case. It is not what happened on the seventh of October. That is a proximate cause. But the real cause is the occupation of Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged the backers of the Canadian amendment \u201cnot to show that you are biased against the Palestinian people who have suffered 50 years of occupation; that you are even-handed; that you will either name both or you will name neither in this draft resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur purpose,\u201d the Pakistani envoy said, \u201cis to stop the fighting.\u201d \u201cAnd if you only focus on your kith and kin in Israel and forget the Palestinians, because they are different people, are they people of a Lesser God,\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

As regards Canada\u2019s demand for the release of Israeli hostages, Ambassador Akram said, \u201cThe text does speak in balanced terms for the release of all who are held, not only the Israeli hostages but also the Palestinians, they have the same rights. They are human beings too.\u201d<\/p>\n

A loud and sustained applause rang out as Ambassador Akram finished his intervention. After the amendment was defeated, the Assembly went on to adopt the resolution by a wide margin of 120 votes in favour to 14 against, with 45 amendments. India was among those countries which abstained. France broke ranks with its Western allies by voting for the resolution.<\/p>\n

Read: UN overwhelmingly calls for aid truce between Israel and Hamas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere, speaking after the resolution passed, said he had voted in favour, as \u201cnothing justifies the killing of civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to work collectively to set up a humanitarian truce because the situation in Gaza is catastrophic,\u201d he said, noting that France has already sent an aid vessel.<\/p>\n

Under its terms, the resolution demands \u201cthe immediate, continuous, sufficient and unhindered provision\u201d of essential goods and services to civilians throughout the Gaza Strip, including but not limited to water, food, medical supplies, fuel and electricity. It urges immediate, full, sustained, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza.<\/p>\n

It encourages the establishment of humanitarian corridors and other initiatives to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and welcomes efforts in this regard.<\/p>\n

The resolution demands that all parties immediately and fully comply with their obligations under international law, particularly in regard to the protection of civilians and civilian objects, and enable and facilitate humanitarian access for essential supplies and services to reach all civilians in need in Gaza.<\/p>\n

It also calls for the rescinding of the order by Israel for Palestinian civilians and UN staff, as well as humanitarian and medical workers, to evacuate all areas in the Gaza Strip north of the Wadi Gaza and relocate to southern Gaza.<\/p>\n

The resolution firmly rejects any attempts at the forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population. It calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians who are being illegally held captive, demanding their safety, well-being and humane treatment in compliance with international law.<\/p>\n

It also calls for respect and protection, consistent with international humanitarian law, of all civilian and humanitarian facilities, including hospitals and other medical facilities, as well as their means of transport and equipment, schools, places of worship, and UN facilities, as well as all humanitarian and medical personnel and journalists, media professionals and associated personnel, in armed conflict in the region.<\/p>\n

It stresses the particularly grave impact that armed conflict has on women and children, as well as on other civilians who may have specific vulnerabilities, including persons with disabilities and older persons.<\/p>\n

The resolution stresses the need to urgently establish a mechanism to ensure the protection of the Palestinian civilian population, in accordance with international law and the relevant UN resolutions, and further stresses the importance of a humanitarian notification mechanism to ensure the protection of UN facilities and all humanitarian installations and to ensure the unimpeded movement of aid convoys.<\/p>\n

The resolution emphasizes the importance of preventing further destabilization and escalation of violence in the region, and in this regard calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and on all those with influence on them to work toward this objective.<\/p>\n

It reaffirms that a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be achieved by peaceful means, based on the relevant UN resolutions in accordance with international law, and on the basis of the two-state solution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n