Jeddah: The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) rejected and unequivocally confronted the plans aimed at displacing the Palestinian people individually or collectively, inside or outside their land, or forced displacement, exile or deportation in any form, under any circumstance or justification, as ethnic cleansing, a grave violation of international law and a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and an unacceptable encroachment on the sovereignty and stability of states and a threat to their security and territorial integrity. The ministers condemned the policies of starvation and scorched earth aimed at forcing the Palestinian people to leave their land.
According to Saudi Press Agency, the council also demanded an end to all policies and measures of annexation, illegal settlements, house demolitions, land confiscation, destruction of infrastructure, Israeli military incursions into Palestinian camps and cities, and attempts to impose so-called Israeli sovereignty on any parts of the West Bank, including East Al-Quds, which threatens to blow up the entire situation in an unprecedented manner, further inflame and complicate the regional situation, and is a flagrant violation of the principles of international law and relevant UN resolutions.
The council supported the efforts of the Global Alliance for Implementation of the Two-State Solution, chaired by Saudi Arabia, as chair of the Arab-Islamic Joint Committee on Gaza, the European Union, Norway, and active participation in the International Conference to Settle the Palestinian Question and Implement the Two-State Solution, chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, to be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York in June 2025.
A decision was issued during the 20th extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC member states, which took place yesterday at the OIC General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah. The session focused on addressing the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the efforts to displace them from their land. The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-CFM), convened in its Extraordinary Session to address the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the attempts to displace them from their land, at the request of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the State of Palestine, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The session reinforced the foundational principles and strategic objectives outlined in the OIC Charter, affirming the resolutions adopted by the OIC pertaining to the Palestinian Cause and the Holy City of Al-Quds Ash-Sharif, most recently by the Extraordinary Joint Arab-Islamic Summit on the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on November 11, 2024. The meeting was guided by the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and relevant resolutions, specifically resolutions 2735 (2024), 2728 (2024), and 2334 (2016), as well as the General Assembly's resolution ES 10/24 adopted on September 18, 2024, on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice confirming the illegality of the Israeli occupation and colonial settlements within the Occupied Palestinian Territory, emphasizing the urgent necessity to terminate such practices.
The council reaffirmed the centrality of the Palestinian Cause for the Ummah, and the unwavering support for the Palestinian people in their pursuit of legitimate rights, including their rights to self-determination, independence, freedom, and sovereignty over their territory, the establishment of the State of Palestine based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with Al-Quds Ash-Sharif as its capital, and the right of all Palestinian refugees to return and receive compensation in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and its relevant resolutions, particularly Resolution 194.
The council reaffirms its commitment to a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in the Middle East as a strategic choice based on the full withdrawal of Israel, the occupying power, from all Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and enabling the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate rights, including their right to self-determination, independence, and freedom, the sovereignty of the State of Palestine on the borders of 4 June 1967, with East Al-Quds as its capital, as well as the right of Palestinian refugees to return and compensation based on the relevant United Nations resolutions and the Arab peace initiative in all its elements and natural sequence as set forth in successive Arab and Islamic summits since 2002.