Jeddah, 26 April 2022 (TDI): The OIC Executive Committee conducted an open-ended extraordinary meeting to discuss Israel’s escalating aggression against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The conference was held at the level of Permanent Representatives to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
OIC Secretary-General at Emergency Meeting: “I have written to international actors and informed them the #OIC Rejects and Condemns #Israel’s Attempts to Impose Temporal and Spatial Division on the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque”. Read more: https://t.co/JrU9ADAnge pic.twitter.com/4aw0S80tmG
— OIC (@OIC_OCI) April 25, 2022
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, Gambia, Niger, Mauritania, and the OIC Secretary-General now make up the OIC Executive Committee. The other Member States were invited to the summit in order to build a common position.
The meeting’s Final Communiqué strongly condemned the continued invasions by extreme colonialists into Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is supported and protected by Israeli soldiers.
The Communiqué stated that there could be no security or stability without the return of Al-Quds Al-Sharif and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s first Qibla and third holiest site, to the Palestinian people and Muslim Ummah.
Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the OIC, sharply condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ attacks on innocent pilgrims at Al-Aqsa Mosque in his statement during the meeting.
Rejecting attempts to temporally and spatially divide the hallowed Al-Aqsa Mosque, Ambassador Sheikh encouraged the OIC Member States to do everything possible to prevent Israel from crossing this red line.
He claimed that closing Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil to worshippers was yet another disrespect to the sanctity of Islamic sacred sites in the occupied lands.
The Permanent Representative voiced serious concern over a succession of Israeli initiatives in the occupied Al-Quds Al-Sharif, aimed at changing its legal status, demographic composition, and Arab-Islamic identity while reiterating Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause.
He went on to say that the letter and spirit of UNSC Resolution 2334 must be followed not just in the occupied Palestinian lands, but also in other circumstances marked by flagrant disdain for and violations of relevant UNSC Resolutions.
Condemning Israeli crimes against unarmed Palestinians, he stressed the significance and urgency of ending Israel’s occupation of Palestine, which he said was at the core of all systemic breaches of Palestinians’ basic human rights and freedoms.
The Permanent Representative urged the international community to act quickly to protect Palestinian lives and preserve international law and the UN Charter’s ideals.
As the current Chair of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), Ambassador Sheikh informed the meeting that Pakistan would continue to lead the process of implementing the relevant OIC Resolutions, which were recently adopted during the CFM Session in Islamabad.
The meeting emphasised the importance of a two-state solution based on relevant UN and OIC resolutions, with pre-1967 boundaries and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of a viable, independent, and contiguous Palestinian state.
