Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will visit New York on February 18 to take part in a high-level United Nations Security Council (UNSC) briefing about the situation in Palestine. The meeting will be chaired by the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary, the current UNSC president. During the briefing, Dar will reaffirm Pakistan’s “principled and consistent position on Palestine.” He will “reiterate Pakistan’s strong opposition of Israel’s recent illegal decisions to expand its control over the West Bank,” and stress the need for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. He will also call for full implementation of Security Council resolution 2803, increased humanitarian aid, and fast-start recovery and reconstruction work in Gaza. The foreign office said Dar will highlight Pakistan’s ongoing talks with international and regional partners, including eight Arab and Islamic countries and the United States. Their goal is a just and lasting peace based on international law. This peace would allow the Palestinian people to achieve self-determination and form an independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. On the sidelines of his visit, Dar will hold bilateral meetings with other foreign ministers to discuss shared interests. This visit follows strong condemnation last week by the foreign ministers of eight Muslim nations, including Pakistan, against Israel’s recent claim that West Bank land is “state property.” These eight countries had cooperated last year with the US administration to propose a plan to end the conflict and Israeli actions in Gaza. On Monday, Pakistan released a statement condemning Israel’s move and urged the international community to reject it.