JEDDAH: The Open-Ended Extraordinary Meeting of the Executive Committee at the level of Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday strongly condemned the continued war crimes, aggression and genocide committed by Israel, the illegal occupying power, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including the City of Al-Quds Ash-Sharif and demanded an immediate end to the Israeli aggression and the policy of torture, starvation and collective punishment against the Palestinian people.
Original text of the Final Communiqué Adopted by the Open-Ended Extraordinary Meeting of the Executive Committee at the Level of Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Discuss the Ongoing Crimes by Israel, the Illegal Occupying Power, Against the Palestinian People and its Infringing on the Sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, in its extraordinary open-ended meeting held at the level of foreign ministers, in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, 7 August 2024, to discuss the ongoing crimes by Israel, the Illegal Occupying Power, against the Palestinian People and its infringing on the Sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Proceeding from the principles and objectives contained in the Charter of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation;
Emphasizing all resolutions adopted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation regarding the issue of Palestine and the City of Al-Quds Ash-Sharif, and the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially the Arab–Islamic extraordinary summit to discuss the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in November 2023;
Reaffirming the principle of respect for the national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence of all Member States, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Charter of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation:
Condemning in the strongest terms the political assassinations targeting Palestinian leaders, and holding Israel, the occupying power, fully responsible for them;
Reiterating its unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people and their leadership in their just struggle to realize their legitimate national rights, including the right of return, self-determination and the realization of the sovereign and independent State of Palestine with Al-Quds as its capital;
1- Strongly condemns the continued war crimes, aggression and genocide committed by Israel, the illegal occupying power, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including the City of Al-Quds Ash-Sharif which have led, over the course of more than 300 days, to the martyrdom and injury of more than 140,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children, the destruction of vital facilities and infrastructure, and the displacement of more than two million Palestinians from their homes; demands an immediate end to the Israeli aggression and the policy of torture, starvation and collective punishment against the Palestinian people, and affirms its categorical rejection and responding by all possible means to any attempt at displacement, expulsion or forcible transfer of the Palestinian people from their land;
2- Strongly condemns the assassination of Mr. Ismail Haniyeh, former Palestinian Prime Minister, while he was in Tehran, capital city of Iran, and holds Israel, the illegal occupying power, fully responsible for this heinous attack, which constitutes a crime of aggression, a flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter and a serious infringement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran; warns that the ongoing crimes of Israel, the illegal occupying power, undermines security and stability in the region, and requests immediate and effective intervention by the UN Security Council, within its primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security;
3- Reaffirms the centrality of the issue of Palestinian and Al-Quds Ash-Sharif for the entire Islamic Ummah and the need to preserve the Arab and Islamic identity of the city of Al-Quds Ash-Sharif and Palestinian sovereignty over it, as both an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, and the capital of the State of Palestine. Stresses also the need for upholding the existing legal and historical status quo in the holy sites, especially the entire Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Ash-Sharif, with its area of 144 thousand square meters, as an Exclusive Place of worship for Muslims;
4- Warns of the surge in Israeli colonial settlement, the danger of annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory, and the daily attacks and crimes by the Israeli occupation army and terrorist settler militias in the West Bank, including the occupied city of Al-Quds, against defenseless Palestinian citizens, their property, land and holy sites, with the aim of forcibly displacing them. Reiterates the content of the ICJ legal advisory opinion regarding the illegality of settlement in the Palestinian territory and the need for ending the occupation, dismantling the settlements and evacuating all settlers; calls for taking the necessary measures to hold the settlers accountable for their crimes, including imposing sanctions on them, designating them as terrorists, and prosecuting them;
5- Expresses deep concern over the growing and intensified brutal crimes of Israel, the illegal occupying power, and its unprecedented violations against thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including executions, torture, starvation, rape, isolation, and forced disappearances, especially against detainees from the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the martyrdom of dozens of them; calls on relevant international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to disclose the fate of Palestinian prisoners, work on releasing them immediately and ensure their protection, and to demand an independent investigation into all Israeli crimes and violations against them. Takes note, in this regard, of the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the crimes of the Israeli occupation power against prisoners and the systematic increase in arbitrary detention practiced by the Israeli occupation forces since October 7, 2023; stresses the need to compel Israel, the illegal occupying power, to treat the Palestinian prisoners in accordance with international humanitarian law and the relevant UN standard rules and international covenants;
6- Strongly condemns Israel’s pursuing of racist, illegal laws, including the decision to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the designation of UNRWA as a terrorist organization in an attempt to undermine its role and prevent it from operating in the occupied Palestinian territory, as part of the clampdown on the issue of Palestinian refugees and the Palestinian existence, in addition to the decision to legalize settlement outposts and seize Palestinian tax funds; emphasizes the ICJ legal advisory opinion, which declared the illegality of the Israeli sovereignty over the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967, and affirmed the right of Palestinians to self-determination and to have their independent state, and calls on the international community to intervene decisively to address and end these illegal measures;
7- Calls upon the United Nations and the UN Security Council to assume their responsibilities to put an end to the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, to ensure adequate and sustainable access to humanitarian aid throughout Gaza Strip, as per resolutions 2720 and 2728, and to provide protection for defenseless Palestinian civilians; calls upon all States to take the necessary measures to prevent Israel, the illegal occupying power, from persisting in its crimes against the Palestinian people and to ensure respect for and implementation of the relevant UN resolutions as well as the ICJ provisional measures on the crime of genocide.
8- Calls upon all OIC Member States to stand in solidarity against the illegal acts by the Israeli occupying power, which exacerbate the conflict in the region and threaten regional peace and security, through taking the necessary diplomatic, legal and political measures to reverse the escalation in the region, and striving to find a path towards regional and international peace and stability.
9- Warns against the continued incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, especially incursions by the Israeli Minister of National Security – a provocative action that is condemned in the strongest terms, a blatant, unacceptable violation of international law and the historical and legal status quo in Al-Quds and its holy sites, and a dangerous escalation that requires the international community, including the Security Council, to immediately put an end to these acts through effective measures to compel Israel, the occupying power, to stop its attacks on the Palestinian people and its violations of the international law and the international humanitarian law, and cease its confrontational actions in Al-Quds Al-Sharif that offend two billion Muslims around the world and threaten security and stability in the region, stressing that Israel has no sovereignty over Al-Quds and the holy sites, and that East Al-Quds is an occupied Palestinian territory.
10- Stresses the need to respect the legal and historical status of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Al-Quds, including the role of Al-Quds Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department of the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf Islamic Affairs and Holy Places, as the sole authority with exclusive jurisdiction responsible for managing all the affairs of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Haram Al-Sharif), and regulating entry into the Mosque, under the historical Hashemite guardianship of the holy sites.
11- Calls upon all States to uphold their responsibilities under the international law and the purposes and objectives of the UN Charter and resolutions, to refrain from engaging in any kind of assistance, cooperation or support to Israel, the occupying Power, which would prolong the Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory, grant it impunity, and embolden it to continue its crimes and flagrant violations of international law and relevant UN resolutions;
12- Affirms its support for efforts to hold Israel, the illegal occupying power, accountable for its ongoing violations and crimes against the Palestinian people, and welcomes, in this regard, the recent ICJ legal advisory opinion that affirms the illegality of the presence of “Israel” and its colonial settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory, and calls, in this regard, for taking the necessary measures to end Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory as soon as possible; also calls on the International Criminal Court to expedite the investigation into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed and being committed by officials of the Israeli colonial occupation government against the defenseless Palestinian people, and to bring the criminals to international justice;
13- Strongly condemns the illegal measures of the Israeli occupation to undermine the status and role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) by targeting its facilities and employees and attempting to strip it of its immunities and privileges; reaffirms the mandate granted to UNRWA by the United Nations, and the need to continue its role and responsibilities, which is a top priority from a political, humanitarian and relief perspective, as it constitutes a driver of stability in the region; calls for providing unwavering support to the Agency to enable it to continue providing basic services to Palestinian refugees, especially in light of the worsening and stifling humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip;
14- Stresses the importance of maintaining the efforts undertaken by the joint Arab-Islamic ministerial group, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the international arena to stop the brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, follow up on the implementation of the ICJ legal advisory opinion on the illegality of the Israeli occupation, mobilize further recognition of the State of Palestine and its full membership in the United Nations, hold an international peace conference, and implement the two-state solution, to pave the way towards ending the Israeli occupation, leading to the independence of the State of Palestine based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with Al-Quds as its capital, in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions;
15- Mandates the Secretary-General to follow up on the implementation of the present final communiqué and to report thereon to the next meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers.
