ISLAMABAD: The Senate rejected on Monday President Donald Trump’s recent decision to shift the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The house adopted a resolution unanimously after a dedicated Senate session discussed the issue for almost five hours.

The resolution, read out by Leader of the House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, expressed the Senate’s serious concern over the implications of this decision for international peace and security, especially in the Middle East.

It called upon the United Nations Security Council to take cognizance of the situation and take steps in accordance with the UN Charter and a number of its own resolutions according to which establishment of settlements by Israel in the Palestinian territory, occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity.

Stand-off over delimitation law persists

The house declared that the position taken by Mr Trump had exposed the so-called position of the United States as an independent peace broker and put a halt to the peace talks, and urged the US to revisit its decision as soon as possible in order to avoid the potentially grave repercussions in the region and beyond and to play its role in de-escalating the situation on ground on the basis of the international law and previous agreements and obligations.

The resolution said that all the revealed religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, claim their affiliation with the holy city of Jerusalem, but President Trump had tried to nullify the religious diversity present in the territory.

The Senate reiterated that any attempt to sabotage the peace process would be the darkest decision of the history and historical wrongs could never be lasting. It appreciated that the international community had rejected this position taken by the US president, which had resulted in an isolated United States of America at the international front.

The house condemned the killing of innocent citizens at the hands of Israeli forces which proved that the US decision is an aggression and a declaration of war on Palestinians.

It called upon the government to immediately convene a joint sitting of parliament to discuss the issue and urged it to explain its policy and the initiatives to be taken to address the grave and immediate challenge.

Soon after the passage of the resolution, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said that a decision had been taken that all other items on the agenda would be suspended as a mark of solidarity with the people of Palestine and adjourned the house to meet on Tuesday at 3pm.

Earlier, several members in their speeches called for convening a joint session of parliament where the prime minister should make a policy statement and a future strategy is chalked out over the issue.

Farhatullah Babar of the PPP wondered if the recently cobbled military alliance of Islamic countries in the name of anti-terrorism would fight this terrorism also, and observed that if this terrorism was not included in its terms of reference, it would give weight to the perception that the coalition was meant to serve some other purpose. He asked the prime minister to come to the house and explain his government’s policy in this regard.

Retired Gen Abdul Qayyum of the PML-N observed that Pakistan should play its role in resolving differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran. He said a joint session of parliament should be convened to discuss the issue.

Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan said that if the government failed to summon a joint session of parliament, a meeting of the Senate’s committee of the whole should be convened to discuss the issue.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed of the PML-Q termed the US decision a slap in the face of the United Nations. He said the US was faced with isolation over the issue as the decision had only been welcomed by Israel.

Meanwhile, the stand-off over the delimitation law continues and the bill providing for delimitation on the basis of provisional census results could not come on Monday’s agenda.

Sources told Dawn that the issue was discussed at a meeting of the business advisory committee where the PPP stuck to its position unless its demands for modus operandi of the third-party audit of census results in five per cent census blocks were accepted.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2017