NEWS




23May
Photo courtesy of the OIC

OIC mulls deployment of ‘international protection force’ to Palestine

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) calls for dispatch of international protection force to Palestine to protect the Palestinian from the aggression of the occupying Israeli forces that has killed 60 Palestinian demonstrators and injuring 2,700 others last May 14 during a dispersal of protesters who commemorated Nakba.

“We call for the international protection of the Palestinian population including through dispatching of international protection force,” the OIC, the second largest international organization in the world, said in the final communique during the Seventh Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference in Istanbul, Turkey last Friday.

Upon the invitation of Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, members of the OIC convened in response to the grave developments in Palestine, as a result of the ongoing Israeli brutal aggression against the Palestinian people and the illegal inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Al-Quds. 

On May 14 thousands of Palestinian protesters pooled at the Gaza strip border to demonstrate their opposition to the setting up of American embassy in Al-Quds. The Israeli forces used live ammunition and tear gas to diffuse the protesting crowd. 

“We condemn in the strongest terms the criminal actions of Israeli forces against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where unarmed Palestinian civilians are exercising their legitimate right of peaceful protest against this inhumane and absolutely illegal occupation,” the communique reads.

The OIC members declared in the document “…that these acts constitute savage crimes committed by the Israeli forces with the backing of the U.S. Administration, including through shielding the Israeli occupation in the UN Security Council from accountability; also note that these crimes have been committed against the backdrop of the illegal decision by the U.S. Administration to officially move its embassy from Israel to the occupied City of Jerusalem, which has further emboldened the Israeli government in its reckless behavior towards civilian Palestinian population.”

They also called on the UN Security Council to uphold its legal obligations to defend the international law and order as they relate to Palestine to put an end to the atrocities committed by Israel and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people.

“We call upon the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General, UN Human Rights Council, the special rapporteurs and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to take necessary actions to form an international investigation committee into the recent atrocities in the Gaza Strip, and enable the committee to initiate field investigation, within a precise timeframe, and ensuring enacting a clear mechanism to determine the culpability of the Israeli officials with a view to ensuring justice for the victims and put an end to the impunity of the perpetrators,” the communique reads.