ISLAMABAD, Feb 22:
Pakistan on Sunday joined 13 other countries to condemn the US ambassador to Israel’s statement, in which he agreed to the Biblical notion regarding Israel’s right to control the mainland Arab regions.
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee made the remarks in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday, with Carlson noting that the biblical verse included Israel’s region between the Euphrates River in Iraq and the Nile in Egypt.
Huckabee, who is a staunch pro-Israel conservative, in his response to the suggestion said, “It would be fine if they (Israel) took it all.”
The Foreign Office in a statement said that the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Indonesia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, and the secretariats of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the League of Arab States (LAS), and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) “express their strong condemnation and profound concern” regarding Huckabee’s statement.
The foreign ministers “affirm their countries’ categorical rejection of such dangerous and inflammatory remarks which constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and pose a grave threat to the security and stability of the region”, it said.
The joint statement said that these statements directly contradict the vision put forward by US President Donald Trump, as well as the comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict, which are based on containing escalation and creating a political horizon for a comprehensive settlement that ensures the Palestinian people have their own independent state.
The ministers said that the plan is grounded in promoting tolerance and peaceful coexistence, and that remarks seeking to legitimize control over the lands of others undermine these objectives, fuel tensions, and constitute incitement rather than advancing peace.
The ministers reaffirmed that “Israel has no sovereignty whatsoever over the Occupied Palestinian Territory or any other occupied Arab lands”.
They reiterated their firm rejection of any attempts to annex the West Bank or separate it from the Gaza strip, their strong opposition to the expansion of settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and their categorical rejection of any threat to the sovereignty of Arab states.
They warned that the continuation of “Israel’s expansionist policies and unlawful measures will only inflame violence and conflict in the region”.
The ministers underscored their countries’ steadfast commitment to the “inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination” and to the “establishment of their independent state along the lines of June 4, 1967, and the end of the occupation of all Arab lands”. (PTI)
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