OIC Secretary-General holds telephone conversation with PA President – OIC Press release/Non UN document

PRESS RELEASE

The Secretary-General holds telephone conversation with

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas

                Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), has held a telephone conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in which he reaffirmed the support of the OIC for the Palestinian people and their struggle against Israeli occupation. Professor Ihsanoglu emphasized the OIC’s condemnation of the Israeli massacre in Beit Hanoun.  

                The OIC Secretary-General briefed President Abbas on the latest efforts which the OIC continues to exert in order to support the Palestinian cause at both regional and international levels. The most recent OIC initiative has been the Extraordinary Meeting of the Islamic Group at the United Nations in New York.

The Islamic Group condemned the recent attacks on the Palestinian people and called on the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency session to consider the serious developments on the Palestinian scene and take appropriate measures to halt the Israeli military campaign against Palestinian civilians.

The Islamic Group called on the international community, including the Quartet, to take urgent steps to put an immediate end to the Israeli assaults, revive the peace process, and bring all parties concerned back to the negotiating table. The Islamic Group also backed the initiatives made by the Arab Group in this connection.

In response to the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the OIC Secretary-General called on the OIC Executive Committee to convene on the ministerial level on 18 November 2006 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in order to consider the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as ways and means to extend support to the Palestinian people.

Jeddah, 11 November 2006