Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed on Sunday that he would not join the Trump administration's peace initiative with Israel despite efforts to convince him to do so.
"I have no second thought about recognizing Israel unless there is a just settlement that satisfies Palestine," he told local television in Pakistan. He refused to say where the pressure is coming from.
"There are things we cannot say. We have good relations with them," he was quoted in The Indian Express, referring to the countries trying to persuade him.
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Thanks to intense US mediation efforts, Israel has recently struck deals with three Arab countries to establish full diplomatic relations: Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan. The diplomatic breakthrough was made possible in part because of the shared threat posed by Iran on Israel and the Sunni-Arab world, but this has infuriated the Palestinians, who have long insisted that a regional peace initiative must include a resolution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Khan vowed that "Islamabad would continue to follow in Jinnah's footsteps vis-a-vis Palestine," referring to the founding father of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azad Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Several weeks ago, British-Pakistani analyst Noor Dahri speculated that Pakistan could soon recognize Israel.
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