NEW YORK, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi arrived in New York Wednesday night to lead Pakistan’s delegation to the urgent session of UN General Assembly to debate the “grave deterioration” of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which takes place on Thursday.
Traveling with Foreign Minister Qureshi in a special plane were his counterparts from Turkey, Tunisia and Palestine.
FM Qureshi is on a Palestine Peace Mission on the special instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The session is in response to a request from the chairmen of the OIC Group at the UN and the Arab Group in a joint letter to the 193-member Assembly president, Volkan Bozkir of Turkey. On Tuesday, the Nonaligned Movement (NAM) also came out in support of the session
The letter was signed by Niger’s Ambassador Abdou Abarry, who is chairman of the OIC Group, and Algeria’s Ambassador Sofiane Mimouni, who heads the Arab Group.
Responding to questions at a news briefing , Brenden Varma, a spokesman for the General Assembly president, said that Thursday’s plenary meeting will debate the situation in the Middle East, but so far no resolution has been submitted.
The General Assembly meeting follows the failure of the UN Security Council to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza.
So far three Security Council meetings have taken place, with no concrete outcome after the United States blocked a joint statement calling for de-escalation of hostilities in the region.
The Council meeting on Sunday came after the US reportedly twice blocked over the last week resolutions that would have deplored Israel’s military response and called for a ceasefire. More than 200 people, including 63 children, have been killed in Israel’s intense bombing of the besieged enclave of two million people.
Israel has justified its savage bombing campaign as a retaliation to rocket attacks by Hamas fighters. But the Hamas movement said its actions were a response to the Israeli policy of forced displacement of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli forces last week. Israel had missed a Hamas deadline to withdraw its forces from the mosque compound.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun, who is the president of the Security Council this month, vowed to push for UN Security Council action to defuse Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
He told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York that he will continue to push the Council to take action and to speak in one voice on this grave situation.
Meanwhile, the United States said Wednesday it also opposes a proposed UN Security Council resolution, drafted by France, calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas fighters, reiterating that it could interfere with the Biden administration’s efforts to end the hostilities.
France pushed for the resolution after the US blocked at least four attempts to have the Council issue a press statement calling for an end to the violence, giving the same reason. Diplomats said all other council members supported the statement.
A press statement requires agreement by all 15 council members, but a resolution requires only at least nine “yes” votes and no veto by the United States or any of the four other permanent members.
A French government spokesman had said “very intense discussions” were taking place with the United States on Wednesday about the proposed resolution, which UN diplomats said calls for a cease-fire and humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Follow the PNI Facebook page for the latest news and updates.
