Pakistan senate rejects Trump’s ‘deal of the century’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Senate on Monday unanimously passed a resolution against US President Donald Trump’s newly unveiled plan to deal with the Israel-Palestine conflict, describing “the so-called ‘deal of the century’” as “an instrument of humiliating surrender for the Palestinians before the oppressor and the aggressor.”

Presented by Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, the resolution called for “the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state” and “safe return of all Palestinians to their homes” which are “currently in illegitimate possession of Israeli settlers in breach of international law.”

The resolution was moved under Article 40 of the constitution that requires the state to “promote international peace and security, foster goodwill and friendly relations among all nations and encourage the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means.”

Deploring the occupation of Palestinian territories and “relentless oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli forces,” the resolution emphasized the necessity of “upholding and preserving the principles of freedom, justice, equity and fair play as enunciated by numerous instruments of international law.”

The resolution also called for an emergency summit meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to devise a “consensus-based strategy” on the matter and demanded a special session of the United Nations General Assembly “to consider the constitution of an international Arbitration Committee to hear the Palestinians and other stakeholders and explore options for a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian issue.”

Other than that, Pakistani senators also agreed to “constitute a special committee of parliamentarians, international law experts and representatives of human rights organizations” to visit differ