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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 24 (AP) Two of the world’s most enduring conflicts sparked debate at the United Nations on Friday, as the annual gathering of world leaders veered away from the dominant issue of the war in Ukraine.
Palestinian and Pakistani leaders are still sending a similar message as they resolve hostilities thousands of miles apart and share their decades-long lives, accusing their neighbors of brutality and urging world leaders to do more.
“Our confidence in achieving peace based on justice and international law is waning,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said. “Do you want to kill the hope in our souls?”
Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank in its 55th year and 13 years without substantive peace talks is a decidedly pessimistic assessment, if not surprisingly pessimistic. The Israeli prime minister, in his own speech a day earlier, backed a two-state solution to the conflict — but there is little prospect in the short term.
Also read | The United Nations has urged international creditors to consider a moratorium on Pakistan’s debt repayments.
Addressing the UN General Assembly after the Palestinian leader, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif similarly addressed the generational struggle, accusing India of a “relentless campaign of repression” in Jammu and Kashmir. Both sides have claimed these mountains since the birth of India and Pakistan when British rule over the subcontinent ended 75 years ago.
Sharif urged world leaders and the United Nations to “play their due role” in resolving the fight, saying India “must also take credible steps”.
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is likely to rebut Sharif when it is his turn to take office on Saturday. India calls the region an integral part of its nation.
After days of world leaders returning again and again to Ukraine, Sharif and Abbas drew attention to other issues facing the international community.
In the first three days and in speeches to 104 leaders, many criticized how Russia had managed to prevent UN action against Ukraine because of its veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council. Abbas turned his attention to the strength of Israel and its allies, which he said meant that no matter how many hundreds of resolutions were passed, they would not be implemented.
“Do you know who is protecting Israel from being held accountable? The United Nations,” he said in a speech that was more than triple the 15-minute limit that leaders were asked to respect.
Israel, in turn, complained that it was unfairly treated by world bodies and that it held different standards than other member states when it came to complaints of human rights abuses.
Even as other issues surfaced, many leaders continued to call for action on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“If we don’t stop him now, he won’t be in Ukraine,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday.
Developments on Ukraine’s main battlefield this week were overshadowed by Putin’s nuclear threat, the activation of some military reservists and a vote in Russian-held territory that was mocked by many world leaders and seen as a prelude to annexation.
Russia and Ukraine faced off at a Security Council meeting on Thursday — an unusually brief meeting in which top diplomats from warring countries exchanged barbs and accusations in the same room, though not outright accusations of one another.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a panel of experts commissioned by the UN’s top human rights body said its preliminary investigation had found evidence of war crimes in Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
Aside from Ukraine, there were familiar repetitions in UN speeches, with repeated references to climate change, economic crisis and inequality. For many leaders, the gathering was a rare moment to seize the spotlight and issue a call to action on a global stage dominated by the largest, wealthiest and most militarily powerful nations.
“The duty of every leader before history is not to ignore failures and shortcomings in favour of wishful thinking or Flattery.” (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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