Palestinian | Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Police in India-occupied Kashmir summoned a local cricketer for questioning on Friday after a video showing him wearing a helmet bearing a Palestinian flag sparked online outrage. According to the Indian Express newspaper, police initiated a 14-day preliminary inquiry after the video circulated on social media, purportedly showing Furqanul Haq, a resident of Pulwama, wearing the helmet during a local league match in Jammu. Police said the inquiry was ordered in view of the “sensitivity of the matter and its potential public order implications” and would examine the facts, the cricketer’s intent, and any possible linkages. Under the law, police can conduct preliminary inquiries with prior permission from a deputy superintendent of police for cognisable offences punishable by three to seven years of imprisonment. The controversy occurred during a match of the Jammu and Kashmir Champions League at Muthi, 10 kilometres from Jammu, after Furqan walked in to bat for his team, JK Eleven Kings, against Jam...

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian territory, with Pakistan, which voted in favour of the text, reiterating that Palestinians must be allowed to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination. The resolution, titled ‘Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine’, was adopted with 151 countries voting in favour, 11 voting against and 11 abstaining, according to the summary posted by the UN. According to the summary, the UNGA, through the resolution, “stressed the need for urgent, collective efforts to launch credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process and called for the timely convening of an international conference in Moscow — as envisioned by Security Council resolution 1850 (2008) — to advance a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement”. “The Assembly also called on both parties to act responsibly, urgently reverse negative trends and create the co...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said Pakistan was ready to commit its troops to the Gaza peace force, but distanced the country from any role in disarming the Palestinian resistance group Hamas. A cornerstone of the United States-brokered Gaza Peace Agreement is the establishment of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), composed mainly of troops from Muslim-majority countries. According to officials close to the discussions, an announcement is expected soon from the federal government regarding the decision. Officials familiar with the deliberations, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said discussions within the government and military establishment were at an “advanced stage”. According to them, the tone of internal consultations suggests that Islamabad is inclined to take part in the mission. Last week, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted a US-drafted resolution endorsing President Donald Trump’s plan to end the conflict in Gaza. The ...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Tuesday his country wanted to normalise relations with Israel through US President Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords, but first needed a “clear path” to Palestinian statehood. “We want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path to a two-state solution,” the prince said in the Oval Office alongside Trump. “We’re going to work on that, to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible,” he added. Trump said that he received a “positive response” from the Saudi crown prince about joining the Abraham Accords. The US president made the remarks in response to a question during a joint press conference with the Saudi Crown Prince, also known as MBS, during his visit to Washington. View this post on Instagram When asked about selling F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, Trump replied in the affirmative, adding that they would be “pretty similar” to those owned by Israel, the jet’s sole operator in the M...

Gaza’s Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday said it had received the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal. “The tenth batch of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs has arrived at Nasser Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip, numbering 15 martyrs,” the hospital said in a statement, noting that 285 bodies were received under the agreement in total. They were returned in exchange for the latest hostage body handed back from Gaza on Tuesday, that of Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen. Under the terms of the US-brokered agreement in effect since October 10, Israel returns 15 bodies of Palestinians for every body it receives of an Israeli hostage who had been held in Gaza. At the start of the truce, Hamas held 48 hostages in Gaza — 20 alive and 28 deceased. The militants have since released all the surviving captives, as well as 21 of the deceased’s remains. Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased hostages, whi...

Israel’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports a bill that would authorise the execution of Palestinian prisoners. The far-right Jewish Power party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, submitted the bill, which will go to a first reading in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) on Wednesday. The draft law states: “The death penalty shall be imposed on any person who intentionally, or through indifference, causes the death of an Israeli citizen out of racist motives, hatred, or intent to harm the State of Israel.” Bills in Israel must pass three readings in the Knesset to become law. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported that Coordinator Gal Hirsch told the Knesset’s National Security Committee on Monday that Netanyahu had expressed support for the measure. Hirsch said he had previously opposed the bill “because of the risk it posed to the lives of the living hostages in Gaza”. “The hostages are now alive, and therefore my oppos...

The former advocate general of the Israeli military, who had resigned last week after admitting to leaking a video to the media that allegedly showed Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian prisoner, was arrested hours after she was reported to have gone missing, according to the The Times of Israel. Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had resigned from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) over a criminal inquiry into the leaking of a video that allegedly showed soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee arrested during the Gaza conflict. She said that she was stepping down because she had approved the video’s leak in August last year. In a report on Sunday, the Times of Israel said that Tomer-Yerushalmi was reported missing by her family, which prompted a search by authorities. “The large search, involving police, rescue forces, and the military, was carried out after she was unreachable for several hours, and her car was later found at Hatzuk Beach near Tel Aviv. Hebrew media outlets reported that she had l...

The main Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, said on Friday they had agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of post-conflict Gaza. During a meeting in Cairo, according to a joint statement published on the Hamas website, the groups agreed to hand “over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent technocrats”. It said the committee would “manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions”. The statement also said the factions had agreed to work on unifying a common position “to confront the challenges facing the Palestinian cause”. It called for a meeting of all forces and factions to “agree on a national strategy and to revitalise the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. Hamas is not part of the PLO, which is dominated by its longtime rival Fatah. An informed source told AFP ...

Pakistan is among four possible destinations that are being considered to receive exiled Palestinian captives, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC), a non-governmental organisation established in 1993 to support political prisoners in Israeli occupation jails. They were freed in exchange for Israelis held in Gaza, but instead of going home, 154 former Palestinian prisoners were exiled to Egypt, where they are confined to a hotel and kept under tight surveillance. All of them had been sentenced by an Israeli military court to life in prison on charges of murder, belonging to Palestinian resistance groups banned by Israel and more. But when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza earlier this month, the group was put on buses and sent to Egypt, where authorities have put them in a five-star hotel that they cannot leave without clearance. Egypt first received 150 exiled prisoners in January, and more than eight months later, most of them are still in the same hotel, their fate undecided. PPC official Hasan ...

Palestinian state bedrock of Pakistan policy: PM

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday told the United Nations Security Council that now was the time for action to resolve the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip and also welcomed the increasing recognition of a Palestinian state by more countries. FM Dar is part of a delegation being led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at a high-level segment of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) from today, drawing the attention of the international community towards the “grave crisis” in Gaza and calling for “decisive action” to end the suffering of Palestinians, according to a statement by the government. World leaders gather in New York every September for several days of speeches at the annual UNGA session. Addressing a UNSC session on the Middle East, FM Dar said: “Gaza has become a graveyard for humanity and the global conscience. We call upon the Security Council and the broader international community to act decisively, to uphold human dignity, to ensure accountab...

Pakistan has welcomed the recent announcements by several countries recognizing the State of Palestine, calling the move a victory for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Britain, Australia and Canada on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state in a seismic shift in decades of Western foreign policy, triggering swift Israeli anger. Portugal was also to recognise Palestinian statehood later on Sunday, as Israel came under huge international pressure over the conflict in Gaza triggered almost two years ago by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a message on X. Britain and Canada became the first G7 countries to take the step, with France and other nations expected to follow at the annual UN General Assembly, which opens Monday in New York. “Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X. Meanwhile, Australia announced ...

ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution reaffirming Pakistan’s historic and unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom, dignity and justice.

The National Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution reaffirming Pakistan’s historic and unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom, dignity and justice.

UNITED NATIONS: An average of 28 children are being killed each day in Gaza amid Israel’s restrictions on the delivery of direly needed humanitarian assistance and a collapse of vital services, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). According to Al Jazeera report, “Death by bombardments. Death by malnutrition and starvation. Death by lack of […]

WASHINGTON: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called recent moves of France, the United Kingdom and Canada to recognise Palestine as a state, saying their efforts are useless if Israel does not approve it, ARY News reported. Marco Rubio highlighted that the Palestinian state recognition cannot be reformed as this ‘requires’ Israeli consent. Marco […]

Britain on Wednesday rejected criticism that it was rewarding fighter group Hamas by setting out plans to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel took steps to improve the situation in Gaza and bring about peace. The sight of emaciated Gaza children has shocked the world in recent days, and on Tuesday, a hunger monitor warned that a worst-case scenario of famine was unfolding there and immediate action was needed to avoid widespread death. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ultimatum, setting a September deadline for Israel, prompted an immediate rebuke from his counterpart in Jerusalem, who said it rewarded Hamas and punished the victims of their 2023 cross-border attack. US President Donald Trump said he did not think Hamas “should be rewarded” with recognition of Palestinian independence. Asked about that criticism, British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander — designated by the government to respond to questions in a series of media interviews on Wednesday — said it was not the right way to characterise Bri...

Maltese government had been under increasing pressure from within its ranks to recognise Palestinian state

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said the Israel-Palestine question was a “test case” for the United Nations and the world as he addressed a high-level conference on the two-state solution in New York. Dar was addressing a rescheduled global conference on “The Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution” at the United Nations headquarters. The three-day moot, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, comes amid renewed international efforts calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza ongoing for over 660 days, with France announcing it will formally recognise the State of Palestine. “The Palestinian question is a test case for the United Nations and the world. Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering and principled support for the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination, including their right to a viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” Dar tol...