JEDDAH: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks about a “Greater Israel” threatened regional peace and security.
Earlier this month, AFP reported that Netanyahu was asked by i24NEWS interviewer Sharon Gal if he subscribed to a “vision” for a Greater Israel, to which he said “absolutely”, adding, “If you ask me what I think, we’re there.” These remarks drew widespread condemnation from the international community, including Pakistan . Last week, Israel’s defence minister approved a plan to conquer Gaza City, while Tel Aviv approved a controversial plan to build an Israeli settlement which would sever the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem.
Addressing an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM) in Jeddah, Dar said that in recent days, Israel exhibited its “characteristic sordid insensitivity to international norms” with highly provocative and unwarranted statements encapsulating its “growing disdain and absolute contempt” for the international order.
“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’, provides an insight into Israel’s annexationist and rogue mindset.”
Pakistan strongly condemned Netanyahu’s remarks, stating that they call for action that would aggravate the already dire humanitarian situation and undermine efforts for peace in the Gaza Strip.
“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,” he said.
Pakistan also fully endorsed and joined the statement issued by 31 Arab-Islamic countries and the secretaries general of the OIC, the League of Arab States and the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemning Netanyahu’s comments about “Greater Israel”.
“His (Netanyahu’s) statement constitutes a direct threat to Arab national security, to the sovereignty of states, and to regional and international peace and security,” Dar stated.
“The root cause of this ongoing tragedy is Israel’s prolonged, illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. As long as this occupation endures, peace will remain elusive,” Dar said, quoting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “We fully stand by our brotherly Arab states in safeguarding their sovereignty against threats to their independence and territorial integrity.”
Dar called Gaza “a graveyard for innocent lives as well as for international law”, lamenting the deaths of over 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
“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,” the deputy PM said.
“Gaza is enduring a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe. For 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 Jerusalem.”
The deputy PM highlighted that the humanitarian system in place was a “cruel illusion” and noted that an unprecedented hunger crisis and famine are rampant in the coastal enclave.
“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 stated.
Dar also welcomed “international momentum” towards the recognition of a Palestinian state by governments around the world and appreciated the International Conference on the Two-State Solution, which was co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, on July 28.
“We urge those states that have yet to recognise the State of Palestine to do so as soon as they can,” he urged.
“We need to do more. It (the conference) must now be followed up by coordinated international action to realise the long-overdue settlement, based on a viable, sovereign and contiguous State of Palestine, on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital,” Dar added.
Dar outlined that Palestinians no longer need messages of sympathy but concrete action to end their suffering and ensure their freedom from Israeli occupation.
“This is a defining moment for the Muslim Ummah. History will not judge us by our words but by our actions,” he emphasised.
“The OIC must rise to this challenge with unity, resolve, and purpose. Another Nakba cannot, and must not, be allowed to happen,” he added, referring to the incident when 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war with Israel.
Highlighting that the Palestinian question is a litmus test for the rules-based international order, FM Dar presented the following seven “urgent and essential steps” for ending the Gaza crisis:
The deputy PM also held meetings on the sidelines of the OIC session with his counterparts from Iran and Saudi Arabia, Dar wrote in separate posts on X.
Dar met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, where the pair “discussed the grave situation in Gaza, strongly condemning Israeli aggression, genocide and famine, and emphasised the urgent need for unhindered humanitarian aid and a lasting ceasefire”.
Additionally, the two top diplomats recalled Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Pakistan and discussed Pakistani-Iranian ties and exchanged views on peace and security in the region and beyond, Dar wrote.
Dar separately met Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan, where the pair discussed Saudi-Pakistani ties and exchanged views on “key regional and international developments of mutual interest”.
“We discussed the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza, including the ongoing genocide, famine and the urgent need for a permanent ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, reconstruction, and lasting peace,” the deputy PM wrote.
Dar also met his counterpart from Malaysia, Mohamad Haji Hasan, on the sidelines of the meeting, where both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening ties through high-level exchanges, expanding trade and economic ties and people-to-people contacts.
“Expressing our firm solidarity with Palestine and deep concern over the situation in Gaza, we emphasised the urgent need for unhindered humanitarian access and a permanent ceasefire to pave the way for lasting peace,” Dar wrote on X.
The deputy PM also met Bangladeshi Adviser for Foreign Affairs Md Touhid Hossain once again in Jeddah, following the former’s visit to Dhaka over the weekend.
“We expressed strong solidarity with the just cause of Palestine, underscoring the urgent need for unhindered humanitarian access, a permanent ceasefire, and lasting peace through a two-state solution,” Dar wrote.
The pair reaffirmed the improving ties between their nations and “looked forward to seeing the fruits of our cooperation across diverse fields”.
The Foreign Office (FO) announced that Dar arrived in Jeddah earlier today to attend the meeting on the Gaza crisis amid Israeli aggression and plans to seize full control of Gaza City.
“Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar […] has arrived in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to participate in the 21st Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held today at the OIC Secretariat in Jeddah,” the FO said in the statement.
“The DPM/FM was received at the King Abdulaziz International Airport Jeddah by the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to OIC, Ambassador Fawad Sher, Ambassador of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, Ahmad Farooq, and Consul General of Pakistan in Jeddah, Khalid Majid.”
The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organisation after the United Nations, with 57 member states. It was established in September 1969 in response to the Israeli terrorist attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
As a founding member, Pakistan has been at the forefront of the OIC’s efforts to champion Muslim causes — from freedom of the Palestinian and Kashmiri peoples struggling under foreign occupation, to upholding the rights of Muslims in Myanmar and Bosnia, to ending conflicts in Muslim lands such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Libya.
Last week, Tel Aviv approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City, describing it as the last bastion of Hamas.
Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to press on with the offensive on the city where famine has been declared, which has raised alarm abroad and objections at home. Katz has said that Gaza City would be razed unless Hamas agrees to Israel’s terms.
Hamas said Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City showed it wasn’t serious about a ceasefire, saying that a ceasefire agreement was the only way to return the Israeli prisoners, holding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for their lives.
The proposal on the table calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living Israeli prisoners held in Gaza and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Once a temporary ceasefire begins, the proposal is for Hamas and Israel to begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire that would include the return of the remaining Israeli prisoners.
Netanyahu said last Thursday that Israel would immediately resume negotiations for the release of all 50 Israeli prisoners held by Hamas — of whom Israel believes around 20 are still living, and an end to the nearly two-year-old war but on terms acceptable to Israel.
According to a report released last week by the Famine Review Committee of the United Nations’ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the famine in Gaza was “entirely man-made” and could be “halted and reversed”, but it required an “immediate, at-scale response” to do so.
“The time for debate and hesitation has passed; starvation is present and is rapidly spreading,” the committee said in a report.
“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay — even by days — will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality.”
The report also warned that avoidable deaths would “increase exponentially” unless a ceasefire was implemented to allow in humanitarian aid and restore the delivery of food and basic supplies to Gaza’s population immediately.
Meanwhile, a fresh consignment of 100 tons of relief goods was dispatched to Palestine from the Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore via a special flight on the instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, marking the 21st consignment dispatched for the people of Gaza, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.
The consignment includes ration bags, ready-to-eat meals, and canned fruits to meet the urgent food needs of the Palestinian people. With this dispatch, the total volume of aid sent by Pakistan to Gaza has reached 2,027 tons through 21 consignments, the report said.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed over 62,000 people and injured 157,951, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The United Nations warned last week that with Israeli forces blocking aid, half a million people face “catastrophic hunger” in Gaza, with famine conditions likely to spread further across the Strip. Meanwhile, Israel has continued its bombardment after approving a plan to seize control of Gaza City, calling it the “last bastion of Hamas.”
