Pakistan warns UN Security Council of ‘tipping point’ in occupied West Bank

• Calls on international community to pressure Israel to halt settlement expansion on Palestinian land • Guterres says Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank have no legal validity and violate international law WASHINGTON: Pakistan on Tuesday urged the international community to persuade Israel to halt new Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands, warning that the situation was approaching a “dangerous tipping point”, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres said all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank had no legal validity and constituted a “flagrant violation” of international law. Britain urged Israel to do more to prevent and prosecute settler violence, while Russia warned that the West Bank was approaching a “point of no return” and risked profound regional destabilisation, as the UN Security Council debated escalating attacks on Palestinians and settlement expansion. “The situation is approaching a dangerous tipping point. Unless this trajectory is reversed, the consequences for the two-state solution — and for peace and stability across the region — could be catastrophic,” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told the Council. He told the Security Council that settlement expansion, settler violence, land seizures and the extension of Israeli authority over Palestinian land were part of a broader effort to entrench the occupation and undermine the prospects of a Palestinian state. He said these measures were fragmenting Palestinian territory and, together with settler violence, had produced the largest displacement crisis in occupied West Bank since 1967. Pakistan also expressed alarm over escalating provocations at Al Aqsa Mosque, calling on Israel to respect the historical and legal status quo at the holy sites and halt provocative actions. Ahmad called for international protection for Palestinians and accountability for those responsible for settler violence. He also urged Israel to immediately release Palestin