UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan on Thursday called on Israel to obey the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and stop construction of a separation wall in the West Bank as it was ‘enormously aggravating the human suffering in the Palestinian territories and poses a mortal danger to the Middle East peace process’. Addressing the UN Security Council on the ‘Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question’, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram said the ‘international community has an obligation to ensure that Israel does not further ignore the ICJ opinion and the General Assembly resolution, fulfils its legal obligations, fully respects the international humanitarian law and that it does not pre-empt the final status issues, especially as regards Jerusalem’.

Saying that ‘it is a matter of deep concern that – one year after the ICJ advisory opinion and the General Assembly resolution – the construction of this illegal wall continues unabated and has indeed accelerated’, Mr Akram noted that ‘the Israeli cabinet has recently approved the remaining details of the separation wall around Jerusalem’, which would cut off some 55,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem from the rest of the city.

“They will be separated from their workplace, schools, hospitals, and families. Besides accentuating the plight of the Palestinians, this action raises much larger issues, including the final status issues.”

The United Nations General Assembly, through a resolution, has called on Israel to comply with its legal obligations by abandoning the West Bank barrier plan.

Mr Akram welcomed the Israeli disengagement plan from Gaza and parts of northern West Bank, saying ‘it should be implemented with the utmost care and in full coordination with the Palestinian Authority. The withdrawal must be full and complete. And, most importantly, it must be the first step towards the end of the occupation of all Palestinian territories’.

Stressing that the success of the peace process in Middle East can have profound and positive implications for peace and stability in the entire Middle East and beyond, Pakistan’s ambassador said ‘at this fateful moment, the international community, including the Security Council, must summon the political courage and will to ensure the realization of this shared vision’.

Earlier, the top UN envoy for the Middle East peace process said the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip could help re-energize talks toward a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

“It is a moment pregnant with hope but also fraught with peril,” Alvaro de Soto told the UN Security Council.

Mr Soto, giving his monthly report to the council, said recent weeks had seen a de facto ceasefire erode after a July 12 suicide bombing and Israel’s resumption of targeted killings.