PAKISTAN'S foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi held extensive consultations with his counterparts from other Muslim countries in New York in the run-up to a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) scheduled for Thursday (20).
Entrusted by Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan to build a "united stance" of Muslim countries on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Qureshi hosted a dinner which was attended by UNGA president Volkan Bozkir and the foreign ministers of Turkey, Palestine and Tunisia.
The emergency UNGA session has been convened following requests from the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) and Arab nations to discuss the heightened cross border attacks between Israel and Palestine in the past 10 days.
"(I) hope that special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly will help send a strong message on behalf of the OIC to the international community to help end the Israeli aggression and to take concrete steps to find a solution to the Palestinian issue," Qureshi said at the dinner meeting, according to a statement issued by Pakistan’s mission to the UN.
He visited Turkey before arriving in New York to seek international support for Palestine.
Pakistan has been vocal in its criticism of Israel for its “disproportionate use of force against innocent Palestinians”.
Some 227 people died in the latest spell of violence between Israel and Palestine in the past 10 days.
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