Pakistan backs 'two-state formula' to end Palestinian-Israel conflict.

UNITED NATIONS -- Pakistan told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday that the 'two-state formula' offers the only viable solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the rising extremism in Israeli leadership 'must not be allowed to foreclose the two-state solution'.

Ambassador Munir Akram rejected all Israeli measures and attempts to alter the historical and legal status quo of Al Aqsa mosque and demanded full respect for the status quo at Al Aqsa and all other holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Pakistan urged the Security Council to 'act swiftly and resolutely to bring a halt to all such Israeli violations, ensure its full compliance with international law, and implement its own resolutions'.

Ambassador Akram said Pakistan was looking forward to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal implications of Israeli occupation.

Ambassador Akram says Islamabad looks forward to advisory opinion of ICJ on legal implications of Israeli occupation

'We expect that the court's opinion will lead to Israeli accountability for its crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory. It is a measure of Israel's sense of impunity that it has taken punitive measures against the Palestinian authorities and people for merely seeking the court's opinion,' he said.

Israel is incensed over a UN General Assembly resolution in late December requesting that the ICJ offer an opinion on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and has imposed fresh sanctions on Palestinian authorities.

UN's Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, told a special UNSC session on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories that he was 'very concerned about the impact' on the finances of the Palestinian Authority from a series of retaliatory Israeli sanctions.

The council heard a worrying assessment of the situation from a senior UN official, who informed the world body about spiralling insecurity in the occupied West Bank.

According to UN...