Another Nakba Must Not Be Allowed, Pakistan Tells OIC Meeting

By Shakir Husain

NEW DELHI, Aug 26 (Bernama) -- Pakistan on Monday called for urgent action to stop Israel from carrying out its threat to expel Palestinians and occupy Gaza, warning that another exodus of the Palestinians from their homeland must not be allowed.

"Another Nakba cannot and must not be allowed to happen," Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) ministerial meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

He was referring to the 1948 "Nakba," or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from their lands by invading Israeli forces.

The Palestinian issue is a litmus test of the credibility of the "so-called rules-based order," the Pakistan foreign minister said.

"Gaza has become a graveyard for innocent lives as well as international law," Dar said.

Israel is showing "absolute contempt" for international law and continues to carry out wanton crimes with impunity with its systematic targeting of hospitals, schools, United Nations (UN) facilities, aid convoys, and refugees, he said.

Gaza is enduring a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe as it has endured nearly two years of indiscriminate bombardment, total blockade, deliberate deprivation, and starvation, the minister told the OIC meeting.

Dar said the occupation regime showed its "rogue mindset" when the "so-called Israeli cabinet" recently unveiled its "ominous plan" for Gaza's occupation and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to a "greater Israel."

The latest meeting of the 57-member organisation is holding discussions on how to combat the Jewish regime's threat to the region, as Netanyahu continues his campaign of genocide in the occupied territories and has threatened to expand his aggression to achieve the Zionist myth of a "greater Israel."

-- BERNAMA