ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia on Monday reiterated its rejection of a recent announcement by the United States that it would no longer consider Jewish settlements in the West Bank as unlawful, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Last week, Pakistan also reiterated its position on ‘illegal’ Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and rejected a statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abandoning the decades-old US position that settlements in Israeli-occupied territory were “inconsistent with international law” and reversing a stand taken under President Jimmy Carter in 1978.
Israel started building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the wake of the Six-Day War in June 1967.
In a speech at an extraordinary session of the Arab League Council held in Cairo, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, reaffirmed his country’s stance on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“My government announced a few days ago that Israel’s construction of settlements is contrary to the resolutions of international legitimacy and international law,” the foreign minister said, adding that the new position was an obstacle to the two-state solution and stood in the way of achieving peace in the Middle East.
The minister said the Palestinian issue was a foremost issue for Arabs and Muslims and Saudi Arabia’s position toward it had always been consistent. He added that the Kingdom had spared no effort in supporting the Palestinian people, and believed in the justice of their cause, which required the intervention of the international community.
The Kingdom would continue to support the Palestinian cause until the Palestinian people attained their rights, especially the establishment of an independent state with East Al-Quds as its capital, in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant international resolutions, the minister said.
On Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Dr. Muhammed Faisal said Islamabad considered all the Jewish settlements in the West Bank “illegal under international law,” adding that the US administration’s endorsement legitimizing the settlements would hamper the viability of the two states solution and prospects of lasting peace in the region.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan reject US backing of Jewish settlements in Palestine
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan reject US backing of Jewish settlements in Palestine
- Last week Secretary of State Pompeo said US would no longer consider Jewish settlements in the West Bank ‘unlawful’
- Israel’s construction of settlements “contrary to resolutions of international legitimacy and international law,” Saudi foreign minister says
Pakistan vaccinates over 26 million children amid declining polio cases
- Pakistani authorities say polio cases dropped to 31 in 2025 from 74 a year earlier
- Over 400,000 workers deployed as Pakistan, Afghanistan run simultaneous campaigns
KARACHI: Pakistan on Wednesday said its first nationwide polio vaccination drive of 2026 was continuing for a third day, with health workers having immunized more than 26.8 million children amid a decline in reported cases of the crippling disease.
The campaign, being conducted simultaneously in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, comes after Pakistan reported 31 polio cases in 2025, a significant drop from 74 cases in 2024, which officials had described as alarming.
More than 400,000 polio workers are going door to door across the country to administer oral polio drops to children, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said.
“More than 26.8 million children have been vaccinated nationwide in the first two days of the campaign,” it said in an update, urging parents to cooperate with vaccination teams and ensure their children receive the drops.
According to the statement, more than 14.5 million children have been vaccinated in Punjab, 5.88 million in Sindh, 4.32 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and around 1.28 million in Balochistan.
Vaccination figures also included nearly 294,000 children in Islamabad, more than 165,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 446,000 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Health authorities warned that polio is an incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis, stressing that sustained immunization efforts were essential to prevent its spread.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, and both have stepped up coordinated vaccination drives in recent years amid concerns about cross-border transmission.
