UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16: At a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East situation, Pakistan said on Monday “despite other important developments taking place in the region, the Palestinian issue must retain its primacy”.

Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN Masood Khan called for re-energising Security Council’s efforts towards realising the goal of an independent Palestinian state and pave the way for peace in the Middle East “It (the Palestinian issue) should not be allowed to be eclipsed or sidelined,” he said in his first speech to the council after assuming the charge of his new assignment. “There is evidence that the illegal Israeli settlement policy has remained the biggest roadblock to the resumption of the Middle East peace process,” Mr Khan said.

He said Pakistan supported the Palestinian peoples’ rights, an independent State, and admission of Palestine as a full United Nations member.

He also endorsed the Palestinian Authority’s initiative to become a ‘Non-member observer state’ and he respected the Palestinian Authority’s decision about the initiative’s timing.

Expressing disappointment that the secretary-general’s report on the Palestinian issue indicated little headway in the past year, he said the lack of progress was undermining the two-state solution and there was evidence that Israel’s settlements policy was the biggest roadblock to the resumption of peace talks.