Islamabad, MAY 27 /DNA/ – If Israel wasn’t stopped, its next target would be the complete occupation of West Bank. These were the remarks shared by Palestinian Deputy Ambassador to Islamabad, Dr. Nader Al Turk. He was speaking to a roundtable discussion hosted by Iran Program at Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad. The event started by observing a minute silence on the death of Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi along with other officials.
Dr. Nader lamented the fact that despite Israel’s atrocities, it was largely recognized by the international community as a full member state of the United Nations. However, Palestine’s right to gain full membership had been vetoed multiple times by the US despite its overwhelming support in UN General Assembly. While highlighting a historical fact, Dr. Nader argued that Israel’s brutalities didn’t start on October 07 last year, in fact, the process had begun soon after 1948 when 900,000 Palestinians were suddenly displaced from their homelands. Today, that number stood at 7 million globally, he added. Dr. Nader pointed that international system, international law and international community, all had failed in fulfilling their promises regarding the Palestinian statehood.
Dr. Munawwar Hussain of Quaid e Azam University drew the comparison between the Gaza War and Ukraine War. He argued that both these wars highlighted the growing unpopularity of the US as a global leader. Dr. Munawwar claimed that the main source of US acceptance as a global leader was its soft war, nonetheless, in recent years, the US had been increasingly dependent on using kinetic power. Dr. Munawwar further reasoned that the international system had now shifted from globalism to regionalism where China had emerged as a peace maker and the US was labelled as a supporter of an apartheid state.
Mr. Faisal Raza of PTV highlighted the dual standards which were apparent in the coverage of Gaza Crisis. He said that the language used to report the Gaza Crisis was biased where Palestinians were dehumanized. There was a deliberate attempt of misinformation and misguidance on the behalf of western media which was being carried out by undermining the journalistic ethics, he pointed out. Mr. Faisal also depicted the sad reality where Israel had been involved in the killing of over 100 journalists but not action against it had been taken so far.
Ambassador Jauher Saleem, President Institute of Regional Studies, thanked the speakers and the participants. He admitted that the world’s conscious had been awaken after the humanitarian catastrophe of Gaza which was unprecedented. There was also an extreme pressure on President Biden which could be assessed by the frequent visits of Antony Blinken, Amb. Saleem argued.
In the end, Mr. Fraz Naqvi, In-charge of Iran Program concluded by arguing that the great powers were increasingly focused on the Middle East due to its vast potential. He also argued that the US had been faced with the foreign policy dilemma because it was being dragged into the conflict by Israel which could be assessed by Israel’s intentions of expanding the war into Syria, Lebanon and Red Sea.
