Pakistan at UN presents seven-point plan, urges permanent Gaza ceasefire

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, before presenting a seven-point plan to ensure peace initiatives, said the second phase of the Gaza Peace Plan was an important step and should help consolidate a permanent ceasefire, securing a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Earlier this week, the United Nations urged that it was time to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire deal after Israel recovered the last prisoner in the territory. The return prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to signal that pedestrian crossings would resume at Rafah.

While speaking at the UN Security Council, the Pakistani ambassador said that the second phase — including the establishment of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, and the establishment of the Board of Peace and executive committees — should “facilitate transitional arrangements, enable recovery and reconstruction, ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale, and prepare the ground for a sustainable and credible political process toward Palestinian self-determination and statehood.” 

The ambassador, during the debate on the Palestinian question, termed the unresolved issue as the core of the instability in the Middle East, stating that the suffering further “escalated to an unprecedented scale” during the last two years in Gaza. 

The ambassador also condemned “Israel’s continued attacks on UN premises and UNRWA, including the recent demolition of the UN compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.

“Such actions undermine the stabilization efforts and threaten the limited progress achieved so far,” the ambassador said. 

“UNRWA’s operations remain essential and must be safeguarded,” he added.

Seven-point plan 

The ambassador also gave a seven-point plan to ensure that the initiatives led by US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace deliver tangible results. 

First, the ambassador said that the ultimate goal of the peace plan should be to establish a Palestinian-led governance and strengthen institutions, with the Palestinian Authority having a central role.

The second step of the plan stated that a permanent “ceasefire must be ensured” and any military escalation must be “strongly countered.” 

The ambassador said that “full, safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian assistance at scale must be ensured,” adding that UNRWA’s role remained critical.

“Fourth, recovery and reconstruction, that should begin without delay, with no annexation, forced displacement or alteration of the territorial unity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the ambassador said. 

The ambassador said that “illegal settlement activity, settler violence, and attempts to alter the demographic” must cease immediately. “Israel must completely vacate all occupied Arab territories,” the ambassador added. 

“Sixth, accountability is indispensable, for without justice and respect for international law, there can be no durable peace,” Ambassador Ahmad said.

Lastly, the ambassador said that a “credible, irreversible and time-bound process” should culminate in the establishment of a Palestinian state in accordance with international legitimacy.