UNITED NATIONS, Dec 1: Pakistan on Thursday called for "a determined and visionary diplomacy, especially by those who wield power and influence with principal parties in the Middle-East is essential if we are to defy dire predictions of disaster in the Middle-East that abound".

"We are confident that genuine progress on Palestine will contribute to progress on other aspects of the Middle East crisis -- including the Israeli-Syrian dispute over occupied Golan; the stabilization of Lebanon; staunching the complex and chaotic conflict in Iraq; and reduction of tensions throughout the region," said Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram addressing the UN General Assembly.

Noting that "the United Nations, which has played a central role in the recent history of Palestine, certainly must demonstrate such solidarity with the long-suffering Palestinians," Mr Akram pointed out "they have suffered decades of foreign occupation, repression and humiliation. They have been subjected to targeted killings, collective punishment, arbitrary detention and countless other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law."

Reflecting that President Musharraf has repeatedly stated that Palestine is the core issue of the Middle-East, Pakistan, he said, has consistently and vigorously supported the just and legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination and against foreign occupation.

"The Palestinian people must be assisted to realize their rightful quest for the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State with Al-Quds-al-Sharif as its capital, he reiterated.

The Middle-East conflict, Mr Akram said, has contributed most significantly to the anger and frustration among the people of Arab and the Islamic World. Israel, he observed, has persisted, so far with policies and actions that have rendered the solution more difficult.