UNSC warned of threat to two-state solution

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Monday heard renewed calls to halt Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories, as delegates warned that escalating violence and continuous land seizures are rapidly dismantling the prospects for a two-state solution. Briefing the UNSC, Deputy UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov highlighted deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza and surging tensions across the West Bank. The session reviewed the Secretary-General’s latest report on Resolution 2334, which reaffirms that Israeli settlements in territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, constitute a “flagrant violation” of international law with “no legal validity.” Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told the Security Council that the recent developments reflect a “systemic pattern” rather than isolated incidents. The occupied West Bank is experiencing “the largest and deadliest wave” of settlement expansion in recent history, he said while citing the advancement or approval of 4,750 housing units and a cabinet decision approving 34 settlements. He criticised Israel’s new online land registration system in Area C, warning it facilitates the dispossession of Palestinian property, while the E-1 settlement project threatens to fragment the West Bank into isolated enclaves. Turning to Gaza, Ambassador Ahmad warned that despite a ceasefire and the Trump-led “Board of Peace”, humanitarian conditions remain catastrophic, with over 90pc population facing widespread hunger, acute water shortages, and disease. In a joint statement ahead of the UN Security Council meeting on the West Bank, five European members, France, Britain, Greece, Latvia and Denmark, condemned the settlement activity and demanded Israeli government to end its expansion of settlements. Also, UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the “relentless” expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Ban