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“My conscience will never allow me to accept Israel, which is responsible for so many atrocities against the Palestinian people,” he says in an interview.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically said that his government won’t recognise Israel until the Palestinian people have their own state.

“Our stance is obvious. It’s something which (Pakistan’s founder) Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah made clear in 1948 – that we can not accept Israel until Palestinians get their rights as per the two-state solution,” he said during a TV interview on Tuesday.

“If we accept normalisation of ties with Israel then we would have to give up the Kashmir cause.”

His comments come days after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said it is establishing diplomatic and economic relations with Israel, clearing the way for the Gulf country to accept the Jewish state.

Pakistan is among the few countries which say on its passport that its citizens can travel anywhere in the world except for Israel.

“My conscience will never allow me to accept Israel, which is responsible for so many atrocities against the Palestinian people,” Khan said.

UAE, which has historically been Islamabad’s key ally, is set to become the first Gulf country and the third Arab state after Egypt and Jordan to recognise Israel.

Since its independence from British India, successive Pakistani leaderships have fought the case of Kashmir, part of which is controlled by New Delhi.

In the same interview, Khan tried to counter reports about strain in Pakistan’s ties with Saudi Arabia, which some observers say hasn’t backed Islamabad wholeheartedly on the issue of Kashmir.

In recent days, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi warned Riyadh that Islamabad might be forced to look at alliances with other Muslim countries – in an apparent reference to Qatar and Turkey.

The minister also remarked to media that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had been dragging its feet on the Kashmir issue and said Pakistan would be willing to convene a session outside the remit of the OIC to bring a spotlight on the issue.

“Saudi Arabia is our key ally. It has helped us in every difficult time,” Khan said.

He distanced himself from the comments of his foreign minister saying, “every country has its own foreign policy, they have their own policy and we have our own stance” on Kashmir.

With inputs from TRT World

Thirty-seven Kuwaiti lawmakers on Tuesday called on their government to reject a normalization deal between Israel and the UAE.

Thirty-seven Kuwaiti lawmakers on Tuesday called on their government to reject a normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In a statement, the members of parliament affirmed their solidarity with the Palestinian people, “recalling the parliament’s stable and continuous position against normalization [with Israel] in all its forms”.

Crimes of the Zionist occupation cannot be removed: Kuwaiti MP’s

“The crimes of the Zionist occupation cannot be removed by normalization from the souls of our children,” the statement said.

The statement referred to the incursions of Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque and Israeli attempts to Judaize the holy city.

The Kuwaiti government has maintained silence regarding the UAE-Israel normalization deal.

More than 30 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Kuwait issued a joint statement Sunday condemning an agreement between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel to normalize relations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an “advanced democracy”, days after a deal between the two countries to normalize their relations.

According to Al-Qabas, a Kuwaiti newspaper, government sources affirm that “Kuwait maintains its position and will be the last country to normalize with Israel.” Beyond Kuwaiti officials, analysts and academics, few have addressed Kuwait’s position on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Adam Hoffman and Moran Zaga acknowledged in February that Kuwait is “the only Gulf state that opposes even discrete normalisation with Israel.”

In January 2019, Giorgio Cafiero wrote that “Kuwait has become the one GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] state that refuses to see warmer ties with Israel as prudent.” Even White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said to Reuters that Kuwait is “out there taking a very radical view on the conflict to date in favour of the Palestinians.”

Netanyahu was hosted by the UAE-run Sky News Arabia on Monday to tout the normalization agreement between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.

“The deal connects the UAE with Israel; both of them are advanced democracies and their societies are advanced,” Netanyahu was quoted by Haaretz as saying when asked about how the deal will serve regional peace.

The Israeli premier uploaded a video of the interview on his official Twitter account, before deleting it shortly afterwards.

The UAE is a hereditary monarchy where political freedoms are very limited.

The Gulf state is rated as “not free” by Freedom House, a US research group that studies democracy and political freedom throughout the world.

The UAE was given a score of 17 out 100 in terms of freedoms and 5 out of 40 in terms of political rights, a score less than Iran, China and Russia.

Abu Dhabi does not usually hold elections as all legislative, executive and judicial authorities are in the hands of the UAE’s Federal Supreme Council, a body consisting of the leaders of the seven emirates of the UAE.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced a deal between Israel and the UAE to normalize their relations.

Kuwaiti MP’s reject UAE-Israel deal

The UAE is the first Gulf state and third Arab nation to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel after Egypt and Jordan.

“We reject any kind of normalization with occupying Israel. Normalization is a dagger stuck in the Palestinian cause and in the back of Arab society,” the NGOs, including the Kuwait Lawyers Association, Kuwait Media Association and Kuwait Economic Association, said in a joint statement.

The statement said the “occupying Zionist” country continues its violations against Palestinian brothers and sisters, adding the Palestinian cause is the priority of Arabs.

The statement also emphasized that all kinds of rights of Palestinian people to resist the occupation are fully supported.

The deal to normalize UAE-Israeli ties was announced last Thursday by US President Donald Trump, leading to a delay in Israel’s controversial plans to annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank.

A joint statement by the US, UAE and Israel said the “breakthrough” would promote “peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders,” referring to Trump, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last week, Israel and the UAE announced establishing full diplomatic relations in a US-brokered deal that will see the Jewish state postpone plans for annexation of land it illegally occupies in the West Bank that is sought by the Palestinians for their future state.

Palestinian groups have denounced the normalization deal, saying it does nothing to serve the Palestinian cause and ignores the rights of Palestinians.

Refusal of Israel ties follows deal to normalize relations with United Arab Emirates, comes amid rumors of imminent diplomatic breakthrough with Bahrain

UAE-Israel deal is a “Zionist occupation”, must be rejected: Kuwait lawmakers

Kuwaiti officials rejected the possibility of normalizing ties with Israel on Sunday, telling a local newspaper that despite warming ties between the Gulf states and Jerusalem, it had no interest in changing its longstanding regional policies.

Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled al-Jarallah said on Friday that the country will continue to uphold its firm stance against normalizing relations with Israel, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

Referring to a group picture that was taken at the Warsaw conference in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also present, Al-Jarallah said: “Anybody would be mistaken if they imagined that the group picture… signal[s] a change in Kuwait’s firm stand.”

He added that Kuwait would be the last to normalize relations with Israel, after a fair and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue is realized, with the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Al-Jarallah noted that Kuwait’s participation in the conference was a result of the country’s eagerness to discuss solutions on Palestinian affairs, as well as due to its close ties to the conference’s hosts.

“Kuwait took part in Warsaw peace and security conference under joint invitation from the United States and the Republic of Poland with which Kuwait has close relations and allied itself in some issues,” he said.

He added that Kuwait’s principle stance was highly appreciated by “the Palestinian brothers.”

The officials emphasized their country’s support for the Palestinians and asserted that any rapprochement would have to meet with their approval.

“The Kuwaiti position is consistent with its decades-old foreign policy approach in support of the Palestinian cause, as it is the premier Arab issue,” the officials said, according to a translation published by Reuters, adding that only “what the Palestinians accept” would be acceptable to Kuwait.

Kuwait’s rejection of closer ties to Jerusalem came three days after Israel and the UAE on Thursday announced an agreement to establish full diplomatic relations, marking the third such deal Israel has struck with an Arab state after Egypt and Jordan.

Israeli and UAE delegations will meet in the coming weeks to sign bilateral agreements regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security and the establishment of reciprocal embassies, according to the White House.

Media reports Thursday indicated Israel is in advanced talks with Bahrain about normalizing ties with the Gulf state, while Palestinian media cited an American official as saying that both Bahrain and Oman are expected to normalize ties with Israel in the near future.

On Saturday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun hinted at the possibility of peace talks with Israel.

Israel has fought two wars in Lebanon in recent decades, and Hezbollah, an Iranian-funded terror group sworn to the Jewish state’s destruction, is deeply embedded in the Lebanese government.