By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday laid out a seven-point plan at an urgent meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), calling on Muslim nations to move beyond “statements of sympathy” and adopt “concrete measures” to end Israel’s war in Gaza and pave the way for lasting peace in Palestine.
Dar, who also holds the foreign minister’s portfolio, addressed the 21st Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah, a two-day gathering from August 25-26 convened as Israel ramps up its military operations in the besieged Gaza Strip. The session comes weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet greenlit a plan for the full military occupation of the territory, a decision that has provoked sharp international criticism and fears of deepening the humanitarian disaster already gripping the area.
Dar charged Israel with “systematic, premeditated and deliberate” breaches of international law, pointing to the toll of more than 60,000 Palestinians killed, most of them women and children, since Israel launched its offensive to genocide Palestinians on October 7, 2023. The minister condemned attacks on hospitals, schools, UN facilities, aid convoys, and refugee camps as “wanton acts of collective punishment in full world view,” describing Gaza as “a graveyard for innocent lives as well as for international law.”
He framed the Palestinian plight as a “litmus test” for the integrity of the global “rules-based order,” and detailed Pakistan’s proposed seven steps to staunch the bloodshed and foster peace.
“First, an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire across Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2735,” Dar said.
“Second, unfettered, sustained and secure humanitarian access to all civilians in need, and the protection of aid workers, medical teams and the UN personnel. Pakistan has continued a steady dispatch of humanitarian goods for our brothers and sisters in Gaza.”
The third step called for “renewed and reinforced international support to UNRWA, which remains indispensable to the survival of millions of Palestinians.” The fourth demanded an end to forced displacement, settlement expansion, and annexation of Palestinian land, particularly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The plan also proposed an Arab and OIC-led reconstruction programme for Gaza, a time-bound political process for a two-state solution, and accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Last week, Tel Aviv approved a plan to seize Gaza City, described as Hamas’s last stronghold. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to press the offensive in the famine-stricken city, triggering international concern and domestic dissent. Katz has said Gaza City would be razed unless Hamas meets Israel’s terms.
Hamas countered that Israel’s plan shows it is not serious about a ceasefire, insisting a truce is the only way to secure the return of Israeli captives and holding Netanyahu responsible for their lives. The current proposal includes a 60-day ceasefire, the release of 10 living Israeli prisoners and 18 bodies, in exchange for Israel freeing about 200 long-serving Palestinian detainees. Subsequent talks would aim for a permanent ceasefire, including the release of remaining captives.
Netanyahu said last Thursday that Israel is ready to resume negotiations for the release of all 50 Israeli prisoners held by Hamas — of whom around 20 are believed alive — and to end the nearly two-year war, but only on Israel’s terms.
Dar denounced “the brazen audacity of the so-called Israeli cabinet in unveiling its ominous plan to extend Israel’s full military control over Gaza as well as the Israeli prime minister’s recent allusion to the creation of a ‘Greater Israel,’” arguing it revealed Israel’s “annexationist and rogue mindset.”
“We joined the statement issued by the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, along with other countries, in expressing strong condemnation and categorical rejection of the Israeli announcement, denouncing it as an unacceptable escalation and a brazen attempt to entrench illegal occupation by coercion.”
Pakistan endorsed a statement by 31 Arab-Islamic countries and the secretaries general of the OIC, the League of Arab States, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemning Netanyahu’s “Greater Israel” remarks. “His (Netanyahu’s) statement constitutes a direct threat to Arab national security, to the sovereignty of states, and to regional and international peace and security,” Dar said.
“The root cause of this ongoing tragedy is Israel’s prolonged, illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. As long as this occupation endures, peace will remain elusive,” Dar said, quoting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “We fully stand by our brotherly Arab states in safeguarding their sovereignty against threats to their independence and territorial integrity.”
Dar described Gaza as enduring “a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe,” marked by nearly two years of “indiscriminate bombardment, total blockade, and deliberate deprivation and starvation,” with violence and dispossession escalating in the West Bank and Jerusalem. He called the current humanitarian system a “cruel illusion,” highlighting the rampant hunger crisis and famine.
A report last week from the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee labeled Gaza’s famine as “entirely man-made” and reversible, but only with an “immediate, at-scale response.”
“The time for debate and hesitation has passed; starvation is present and is rapidly spreading,” the committee warned. “There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay — even by days — will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality.”
The report cautioned that preventable deaths would “increase exponentially” without a ceasefire to enable humanitarian aid and restore food and basic supplies.
Dar expressed Pakistan’s “deep appreciation to all the states and stakeholders that are playing a role in advancing peace in Gaza,” noting their “ongoing contributions and steadfast support remain essential in the pursuit of stability and justice for the Palestinian people.”
He welcomed “international momentum” toward recognising a Palestinian state, praising the International Conference on the Two-State Solution, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France on July 28. “We urge those states that have yet to recognise the State of Palestine to do so as soon as they can,” Dar said.
“We need to do more. It (the conference) must now be followed up by coordinated international action to realise the long-overdue settlement, based on a viable, sovereign and contiguous State of Palestine, on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital.”
Dar stressed that Palestinians need “concrete action to end their suffering and ensure their freedom from Israeli occupation,” not just sympathy.
“This is a defining moment for the Muslim Ummah. History will not judge us by our words but by our actions,” he said. “The OIC must rise to this challenge with unity, resolve, and purpose. Another Nakba cannot, and must not, be allowed to happen,” he added, referring to the 1948 war when 760,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled their homes.
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