Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar ruled out any change in Pakistan’s longstanding policy towards Israel, saying that there could be no change in Islamabad’s stance towards Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
He made these remarks during a press conference at Pakistan’s embassy in Washington after a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
He was responding to a question about US President Donald Trump urging Muslim states, including Pakistan, to join the Abraham Accords as part of a deal with Iran and whether any discussion with Rubio was held on the matter.
“Pakistan remains steadfast in its position on Palestine and Gaza,” Dar said, adding that Israel “must move towards the establishment of a Palestinian state” before there could be any change in Pakistan’s stance towards Israel.
The Abraham Accords are a set of agreements brokered under Trump in 2020 and widely heralded as a foreign policy success. The Accords govern the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Israel and countries that have historically been hostile to it.
While they were welcomed in diplomatic circles as a step towards a more peaceful Middle East, they remain unpopular among the public in many parts of the region, not least because they do not tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Earlier on May 25, US President Donald Trump urged Muslim-majority nations across the Middle East and beyond to normalise relations with Israel as part of the emerging Iran peace deal.
In a social media post, Trump listed countries whose leaders he spoke with on Saturday about efforts to end the war with Iran.
