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Mr. President,
It is a pleasure to participate in this debate under your eminent leadership of the Security Council.
We thank the Secretary General for his frank and revealing Report. It honestly portrays the grim picture of the vortex of violence, which is the Middle East today.
Conflict and chaos has been endemic in the enduring Arab-Israeli dispute. Palestine's suffering is epic.
It is our conviction that enduring peace in the Middle East cannot be restored until there is a just resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. The basic prerequisite for a just solution is the creation of an independent, contiguous and viable State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds al Sharif as its Capital.
Unfortunately, this appears to be a more distant prospect than at any recent time. The report of the Middle East Quartet reflects the most serious impediment to a solution: the continued illegal construction of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
After the report was issued a week ago, Israel has announced the building of 560 additional housing units in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim. Unless Israel's illegal settlements are halted and reversed, it will be impossible to establish a Palestinian State, which is contagious or viable. It will be no more than a collection of bantustans.
While creating these unilateral "facts on the ground", the present Israeli government has obfuscated on the revival of the peace process, posing conditions that no Palestinian leadership, no matter how accommodative, would be expected to accept.
Meanwhile, the oppressive occupation of the Palestinians continues. Protests evoke brutal responses. Gaza remains a virtual prison. Conditions in the West Bank continue to become more chaotic and violent.
The international community cannot continue to avoid its responsibility to promote a just solution to the problem. The Security Council cannot continue to avoid its obligations under resolution 242 and its successors to enforce a just solution to this conflict – one which is at the core of the challenges that confront the Middle East today.
Mr. President,
Even as the world has failed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian problem, violence and war have spread to engulf almost all of the Middle East region and beyond.
The violence and suffering of the Iraqi people began under a cruel dictatorship, escalated during external intervention and persists today in a grinding fight against terrorism and sectarian violence.
Iraq's tragedy has been joined by that of the people of Syria – with hundreds of thousands killed in a brutal and complex war, with millions displaced internally, and externed as refugees to neighboring countries or flowing in great masses, often with tragic consequences, to the ostensibly secure borders of Europe.
In both Iraq and Syria, ISIS has emerged as the principal adversary. The brutal brand of its ideology and reign of terror must be defeated. Welcome advances have been made on the ground in facing this monstrous movement. Pakistan supports the steps being pursued by the international community to roll back ISIS from its strongholds and restore peace over the large tracts of Syria and Iraq it continues to occupy.
As it retreats on the battlefront, ISIS has shifted strategy by terrorist attacks on civilian and security targets within and outside the region. Pakistan condemns the brutal terrorist attacks, which have killed so many innocent people in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, ISIS' perverted ideology and example is inspiring terrorist attacks in its name across the world – in Paris, Orlando and Dhaka.
To defeat ISIS, it is essential first, for the States bordering Syria and Iraq, and the external powers, which have become involved in these conflicts, to reconcile their own divergent objectives and priorities and evolve agreed measures to overcome the political, religious and ethnic divisions within these suffering countries. Only then will it be possible for all the concerned parties to concentrate their efforts to defeat ISIS and the threat it poses to regional and international peace and security.
We commend the efforts of the UNSG's Special Envoy, and encourage his endeavor to secure a cessation of hostilities that would enable the easing of humanitarian suffering and the evolution of political structures for a transition to peace. The regional and major powers have a heavy responsibility to evolve a viable and agreed plan to realize these objectives. Unfortunately, progress towards this objective has not been consistent.
Mr. President,
Yemen too has been in the throes of a war whose origins were internal, but which has been exacerbated by the external armament and encouragement of certain groups. It has not been easy to restore legitimacy, reconciliation and peace in Yemen. It is terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda and ISIS, which have exploited the war to secure a more prominent presence in Yemen. The restoration of peace, through political reconciliation and respect for international law, is in the vital interest of the people of Yemen, all of its neighbors and the international community. Pakistan supports all genuine efforts to this end.
To conclude Mr. President, the lesson of history, indeed recent history, is that protracted conflicts can be resolved. The recent example from Colombia is an inspiring case in point. What is needed is firm resolve, concerted action and, above all, political, will to build lasting peace.
I thank you, Mr. President