ISLAMABAD: Palestine on Wednesday welcomed reaffirmation by Prime Minister Imran Khan that Pakistan would not recognise Israel till the establishment of Palestinian state.

The Palestinian embassy, in a media statement, said: “On behalf of Palestinian people and the Government of the State of Palestine, the Embassy of the State of Palestine, Islamabad, Pakistan, conveys sincere thanks … heartily appreciates the stance of H.E. Mr Imran Khan, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”.

The embassy recalled Pakistan’s contributions to the Palestinian cause. “We Palestinians consider Pakistan as our second homeland, and Pakistanis as our dearest brothers, who always supported Palestine on every forum of the world. Ever since the creation of Pakistan every government has always supported the just cause of Palestine on all the forums of the world,” the embassy said.

The embassy, moreover, hoped for sustained support from Pakistan to the Palestinian cause.

Envoy says Palestinians consider Pakistan their second homeland

“We are hopeful that this support will be with us until we get an Independent State of Palestine with Jerusalem Al-Quds as its capital,” it asserted.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, while responding to a question about the possibility of recognising Israel in a TV talk show on Tuesday, said: “Irrespective of whichever country does that, our position is very clear and had been defined by our founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah in 1948, which is that we will not recognise Israel as long as a just settlement of the dispute is achieved in accordance with the Two-State Solution.”

Mr Khan said that recognising Israel could have implications for Pakistan’s longstanding dispute with arch rival India on Kashmir. “If we were to recognise Israel, then we should give up Kashmir,” he maintained.

The stance taken by Mr Khan was in sharp contrast to the vaguely worded statement given by the Foreign Office on the recent announcement of an agreement on normalisation of the United Arab Emirates-Israel ties.

Pakistan has not recognised the state of Israel since it was established in May 1948 as the British withdrew from the Middle East after World War-II. Secret contacts between the two countries have, however, been reported in the past.

The debate over recognising Israel has been simmering in the country for a couple of years, but came to the fore after the UAE’s agreement with Israel and the US.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2020