Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the 20-point Gaza peace plan released by US President Donald Trump was “not ours”, adding that changes had been made to the proposal.
“The 20 points that US President Donald Trump made public are not ours. Changes were made to our draft. I have the record,” he said while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly.
“This is the end result and there is no room for politicking. Unless we walked away and did not make the effort,” he said, reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to Palestine.
During his speech, Dar said that eight Arab and Muslim countries came together for a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“During the meeting, there was no other agenda. Today I am telling you the details,” he said, adding that it was decided to keep it “discreet”.
He further said that before the main meeting, a preparatory meeting of all the foreign ministers of the eight countries was held in New York, where the situation in Gaza was discussed.
He said that for his part, US President Trump took this positively and said his team would sit with the foreign ministers to find a “workable solution”. He said Trump also said that he was scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon and to try and stop the bombardment of Gaza.
He said that Qatar’s embassy was the convener for these meetings, which were not released to the media. “President Trump’s committee also came and open talks were held on what they wanted […]. They gave us a 20-point proposal.”
Dar further said that the ministers took the proposal and decided to deliberate on it for the next 24 hours.
“Instead of making a completely new draft, we decided to remain within this framework and decided to either amend or delete points based on our wish list,” he said. “We held different meetings in the next 24 hours. We were exchanging hard copies in hotel rooms,” he said.
He said that the final draft prepared by the eight countries, not just Pakistan, was then sent onward as a “counter draft”. He said that two hours after the Pakistani delegation had left New York, he received a phone call where he was told that some countries wanted all eight foreign ministers to sign off on the document while some were saying it was not necessary.
“This was a small thing in my eyes,” Dar said, adding that he asked the majority to take a decision in this regard. “By the time we landed at our next destination, I was told the American side had received the draft.”
He said that during Monday’s meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, a 20-point plan was announced. He said that he then spoke to the Saudi foreign minister who said that the urgent points put forth by the eight countries were accepted but some things we still need to engage with them over.
Quoting the Saudi minister, he said that at that point there were two choices: to continue and perhaps Israel will continue its bloodshed or we let Trump’s plan be implemented and issue a joint statement.
“I said you are right, we should do this,” he said, adding that the statement was later finalised. Dar then proceeded to read out the joint statement issued on September 29.
He said that this was the only way to end Israel’s bombardment of Gaza when all other forums had failed. “Statements will not suffice. We need practical work,” he said, extending his thanks to the other countries involved.
More to follow
