OIC for unity against Israel’s atrocity in Palestine

International Desk: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called on the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to act in line with its legal and moral obligation to ensure accountability for the unchecked crimes that Israel, the occupying power, is carrying out with impunity.

The OIC called for upholding the UNSC’s legal obligations to defend the international law and order as they relate to Palestine and to put an end to these atrocities, and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people.

The Islamic countries’ block also called for the international protection of the Palestinian population, including through dispatching international protection force, according to final communique of the seventh extraordinary Islamic Summit conference held in Istanbul on Friday in response to the grave developments in the state of Palestine.

The leaders requested the OIC General Secretariat to act immediately to establish an international independent committee of experts to investigate the crimes and massacres committed by the Israeli forces against the peaceful and unarmed demonstrators in the Gaza Strip, to determine the culpability of the Israeli officials and communicate the findings to relevant international bodies.

They called upon the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General, UN Human Rights Council, the special rapporteurs and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to take necessary actions to form an international investigation committee into the recent atrocities in the Gaza Strip.


The OIC member states called on the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council to uphold their responsibilities in this regard and invite all countries to mobilise their efforts to bring this issue to the agenda of the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, and the Human Rights Council urgently.

The Summit condemned in the strongest terms the criminal actions of Israeli forces against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where unarmed Palestinian civilians are exercising their legitimate right of peaceful protest against this inhumane and absolutely illegal occupation.

It held Israel, the occupying Power, fully accountable for the grave atrocities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly the latest episode of willful murder of at least 60 civilians, and injuring of nearly 2700 others on May 14.

The Summit declared that these acts constitute savage crimes committed by the Israeli forces with the backing of the US Administration, including through shielding the Israeli occupation in the UN Security Council from accountability.

The Summit called on Member States and the wider international community to ban the products of the illegal Israeli settlements from entering their markets, take measures against individuals and entities involved in or beneficiaries of the perpetuation of occupation and settlement regime.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali led an eight-member Bangladesh delegation at the 7th Extraordinary Summit of the OIC.

The Summit focused on the massacre of the peaceful Palestinian civilian protesters by the Israeli forces as well as the official opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on May14.

President of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan convened the Summit in his capacity as Chair of the OIC Summit.

Source: Agencies

risingbd/Dhaka/May 19, 2018/A K Azad