OIC's Stance on Palestine

The Organization of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) summit that just concluded  on Saturday in Makkah has strongly condemned the US decision of declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,  and the stance of the countries that backed it. 

The 57-nation body of Muslim countries has asked the countries that endorsed President Donald Trump's unilateral political move with its declaration in December 2017 to that effect,  to desist from violating international law.  The Makkah summit has unequivocally declared the stance of Arab-Muslim nations,  at a time when the imperialist move is being intensified to devour Palestine by expanding unjust occupation, and throwing to the winds all democratic norms and human values.  

On the one hand America goes whole hog with its  West Asia peace plan, dubbed as the deal of the century,  as a multi-billion dollar investment plan presented by President Trump' adviser in trade and diplomacy, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.   On the other, on the strength of this global support,  it can bolster Israel's occupation of Jerusalem including the Muslim holy site of Quds,  with military machinery.   It is during such developments that the OIC summit has repeated its uncompromising stand on Palestine.  The resolution adopted by the summit points out that the Palestinians are entitled to their inalienable national rights including the right to self-determination and to establish an independent sovereign state of Palestine.  Saudi monarch King Salman Bin Abdulaziz was forthright in saying that the issue of Palestine forms the cornerstone of OIC's existence and that its commitment will continue until the Palestinian brothers win all their legitimate rights.   He also reiterated the declared stance that any act that challenges the historical and legal existence of Quds will be summarily rejected.

Over the last two years, the Trump administration has been giving final shape to an investment-linked peace plan involving all the West Asian countries.  But the US has been holding the details of this plan,  secretly prepared by Jared Kushner,  in strict confidentiality.   Reports say that the design was to put forward the plan by the end of this year,  when the regime of Benjamin Netanyahu,  a trusted ally of the US, stabilizes and the US enters the preparations for the presidential elections next year.   

The Kushner strategy has been to make public only the economic and commercial aspects of the deal, and to ensure the support of Arab-Muslilm countries on them.  To this end, a summit has been convened to be held in Bahrain on 25 and 26 this month.  It is learned that the summit will discuss the proposals to increase Arab investments in Palestine's West Bank and Gaza regions.  But Palestinians strongly believe that regardless of the nature of the plan,  the new scheme will ignore Palestine and will be aiming at gaining greater development for the Israeli state.   For that very reason,  the Palestinian Authority has already declared that it will boycott the Bahrain summit which will discuss economic-investment matters alone,  leaving politics aside.  The Authority has also sought the support of other countries for this stance.

Kushner has already kicked off his tour of Israel and West Asian countries with his dream project.   But, with Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu having had to quit the government  without being able to form a coalition,  the US is concerned that the attempt may flounder.   Therefore,  Trump is trying all he can to hoist Netanyahu in power by any means.  With such facts in the backdrop, suspicions are strengthening that the Kushner plan is a planned move to win Israel legitimacy leaving the Palestinians' aspiration for a nation of their own as nothing but a dream.  The move of America, which has  already earmarked Jerusalem for Israel, has naturally excited Zionist extremists.

With a tactical conclusion of a long-standing dispute, the right-wing Jewish sections are in an intense effort for the realization of their dream nation expelling Palestinians to the utmost.  Quds being a territory whose title is claimed by both sides,  there is a convention of allowing Muslims to worship there during the last ten days of Ramadan.  But this year,  in connection with the Jerusalem day Israel celebrates in commemoration of  Israel's victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war,   the Zionist extremists on Sunday crashed into the Al-Aqsa mosque on Sunday and expelled Muslims entirely. It was for the first time in 30 years that such an incident happened there. And when Palestinians rose in protest against this, Israeli defence forces seriously intervened to tackle the protests and to facilitate the gate-crashing of right-wing extremists.  As a result,  towards the last days of Ramadan, riots have erupted in the territory.

It is in such a critical juncture that OIC declares its support and affirms the position that it will not allow any move to efface the historical character of Al-Aqsa. When the Zionist terrorism to extgerminate Palestinians,  and the American plan to gradually annihilate Palestine come together,  people of the world  with any human touch should come forward to help the Palestinians who have been fighting with their sweat and blood for their lives and for a peaceful land of their own.  The willingness for that forms the essence of the OIC declaration.  Thus,  it is as much the aspiration of all mankind as of Palestinians that the declaration should translate into reality.