President Asif Ali Zardari has reiterated unqualified support for the Palestinian cause till the achievement of their right to self-determination.He was speaking at a ceremony held at the Governor House here on Tuesday to celebrate the achievement of the non-member Observer State status to the Palestine in the United Nations.

Ambassador of the Palestine Walid Abu Ali, who had earlier presented his credentials to President Zardari, also spoke on the occasion.Zardari said, “It gives me great pleasure to celebrate with you today the achievement of the non-member Observer State status to Palestine in the United Nations”. He said it is a historic occasion for the Muslim world and more so for the Palestinian people.“On behalf of the people of Pakistan and on my own behalf I wish to express my heartiest congratulations to our Palestinian brothers on this great achievement”, he added. He said he is happy that Pakistan was one of the co-sponsors of the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly last month. President Zardari pointed out that Pakistan was also among the original co-sponsors of the first resolutions on Palestine adopted by the United Nations. “We are proud that we have always stood by the people of Palestine”, he added.

He said,” Today we also celebrate the birthday of our founding father Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It was indeed his struggle and leadership and sacrifices of our people that led to the creation of Pakistan”. He also pointed out that the exercise of the people’s right of self-determination was the foundation of the state of Pakistan. It was a lesson of history that the right of people to self-determination could not be denied. “We have, therefore, always supported the people of Palestine”, Zardari stressed. “We have also supported our Kashmiri brethren, who have struggled for decades to achieve the same right”. There may be challenges but in the final analysis `right’ always prevails over the `might’, he said and added that the UN membership of Palestine had once again vindicated this principle.

The President said that Pakistan had always been guided by the principles. That is why we extended unqualified support to the Palestinian people, he added. He said, “We are convinced that peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without giving the Palestine people their right. We support the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state. We support Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. We favour an early settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution. We support the right of return of Palestinian refugees”.He said,” We are disappointed at Israel’s negative reaction to grant of non-member observer state status to Palestine at the UN. We strongly oppose all illegal settlements on occupied territories.

We are deeply disappointed at Israel’s recent announcement of building new settlements in East Jerusalem. Israel is unwilling to recognise the right of the Palestinian people to statehood. But this right cannot be denied for long”.Zardari also pointed out that the international community had openly denounced the building of new settlements. Even Israel’s supporter had denounced this policy. He said that these settlements, if allowed to continue, would ruin peace process. The President said that he wished to send a message to the Palestinian brothers. “Pakistan would continue to extend unqualified support to you till you achieve your right to self-determination”. The sacrifices of our Palestinian brothers will not go in vain. Your heroic struggle is fated to succeed. Inshallah you will achieve the dream of an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” he added.