Pakistan PM will not recognise Israel until Palestinians get their rights

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan on 9 March 2020 [Hussain AliAnadolu Agency]

August 19, 2020

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said his country will not recognise Israel until the Palestine issue is resolved.

During an interview yesterday with local broadcaster Dunya News on the completion of his two years in office, Khan said that Islamabad will not follow the UAE in recognising Israel as a state.

He said:

Our stand about Israel is very clear. It is the same that the founder of the nation, Quaid-I-Azam had. We cannot recognise Israel until Palestinians get their right, which should be in line with the two-state solution.

The PM said accepting the state of Israel is equivalent to giving up Pakistan’s stance on illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir which have been seized by India. “The case of Palestinians is similar to people of Kashmir and their [Palestinians] rights have been snatched and they have been suffering Israeli atrocities.”

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis protested on Sunday against the normalisation deal signed between the UAE and Israel, Anadolu reported.

Abu Dhabi said the deal was an effort to stave off Tel Aviv’s planned annexation of the occupied West Bank, however, opponents believe normalisation efforts have been in the offing for many years as Israeli officials have made official visits to the UAE and attended conferences in the country which had no diplomatic or other ties with the occupation state.