Saudi Gazette report
JEDDAH — The foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which groups 57 Arab and Muslim countries, called on Monday for the adoption of all possible legal and effective measures to prosecute Israel and prevent it from continuing its crimes against the Palestinian people. The 21st Extraordinary Session of the Council of OIC Foreign Ministers, which concluded in Jeddah, underlined the need for coordinated action to suspend Israel's membership in the United Nations.
As the Israeli occupation forces continue to commit crimes of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the OIC foreign ministers called for further study of the compatibility of Israel's membership with the UN Charter, given its violation of the terms of membership. The foreign ministers also sought supporting efforts to end Israel’s impunity, hold it accountable for its violations and war crimes, impose sanctions on it, halt the supply, transfer, or transit of weapons, ammunition, and military materials to Israel and review diplomatic and economic relations with the Jewish country.
The extraordinary session emphasized that all crimes committed by Israel amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of genocide, which require accountability and prosecution under International Criminal Law. It emphasized the importance of the case to be brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the grounds that Israel, the occupying power, has violated the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the follow-up procedures for the advisory opinion issued by the ICJ to ensure that Israel is held accountable for the crimes of genocide it has committed and continues to commit in the State of Palestine.
The foreign ministers called on the UN Security Council to hold an extraordinary session on the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people during the UN General Assembly meetings scheduled for next month, and to entrust the delegations of the Council's member states to coordinate with the State of Palestine on this matter.
Reaffirming the centrality of the Palestinian cause among all issues, the OIC foreign ministers rejected and strongly condemned Israel's announcement of its plan to impose occupation and complete military control over the Gaza Strip, as well as any plans aimed at displacing the Palestinian people under any pretext.
They also condemned and rejected in the strongest terms the irresponsible and arrogant statements made by the Israeli prime minister regarding the so-called "Greater Israel Vision," considering them an extension of the rhetoric of extremism, incitement, and aggression against the sovereignty of states, a violation of international law and the UN Charter, and a serious threat to regional and international peace and security.
The ministers considered this as a dangerous and unacceptable escalation and an attempt to consolidate the illegal occupation and impose a fait accompli by force. These illegal actions that threaten regional and international peace and security, are in flagrant violation of international law, including international humanitarian law, human rights, relevant international resolutions, and the advisory opinion and provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice.
The ministers reaffirmed the centrality of the Palestinian cause to the entire Islamic Ummah and their support for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, such as their right to self-determination, the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland, their right to independence, and the establishment of an independent and sovereign State of Palestine on the June 4, 1967, lines, with Jerusalem as its capital.
