Jeddah (TDI): Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has cautioned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s endorsement of the idea of a “Greater Israel” poses a serious threat to peace and security in the region.
Speaking at an extraordinary session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM) in Jeddah, Dar said the Israeli leadership had once again displayed “its disdain for international norms” through provocative rhetoric and actions.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu said that he supported the vision of a Greater Israel, comments that drew sharp criticism worldwide, including from Pakistan. His remarks came alongside Israel’s decision to expand settlements around East Jerusalem and a military plan to seize control of Gaza City.
“The brazen announcement of extending full military control over Gaza, coupled with the Israeli premier’s reference to a so-called Greater Israel, exposes the annexationist mindset of the Israeli cabinet,” Dar said.
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Pakistan, he stressed, had joined the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee and 31 other countries in rejecting Netanyahu’s statement, calling it an unacceptable escalation that further entrenches illegal occupation. “Such pronouncements are a direct threat to Arab security, state sovereignty, and global peace,” he added, echoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s position that Israel’s decades-long occupation remains the root cause of the crisis.
Dar described Gaza as both a “graveyard of innocent lives” and a place where international law is being openly disregarded. He lamented the loss of more than 60,000 Palestinian lives, the majority women and children, and denounced the deliberate targeting of hospitals, schools, aid convoys, and refugee camps as acts of collective punishment.
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“For nearly two years, Gaza has endured indiscriminate bombardment, a total blockade, and engineered starvation,” he noted, adding that the situation in the West Bank and Jerusalem continues to deteriorate as violence and dispossession rise.
Dar expressed appreciation for countries and organizations working toward a ceasefire and peace settlement, while also welcoming growing international momentum for recognizing the State of Palestine. He praised the July 28 International Conference on the Two-State Solution, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, urging all states yet to recognize Palestine to do so without delay.
A Test for the Muslim Ummah
Calling it a decisive moment for the Islamic world, Dar warned that history would not remember the OIC’s words, but its actions. “Another Nakba cannot and must not be allowed to occur,” he said, referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
He stressed that the Palestinian struggle is not only a humanitarian concern but also a litmus test for the international rules-based order. Dar outlined seven urgent steps, including immediate humanitarian relief, coordinated diplomatic efforts, and firm international action to advance the creation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
