Issue of Palestine – First Ministerial Meeting of OIC troikas/Final Communiqué (excerpts)/Non-UN document

Final communiqué

Adopted by the first ministerial meeting of the executive committee of the

Organization of the Islamic conference (OIC troikas)

 JEDDAH — KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

15 SAFAR 1427H (15 MARCH 2006)

1.       Based upon the decision taken by the 3rd Extraordinary Summit held in Makkah Mukarramah to establish an Executive Committee with the view to following up the adopted resolutions and considering urgent matters which warrant attention between OIC intersessional meetings and as a results of consultations made by the OIC Secretary-General with the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Yemen, Chairman of the 32nd Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) and the Foreign Minister of Malaysia, Chairman of 10th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference (ISC), the Secretary General called for the convening of  the First Ministerial Meeting of the Executive Committee^[1] of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on 15 Safar 1427H (15 March 2006).

2.       An invitation for participation was also extended to the Foreign Minister of Palestine^[2] and the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Iraq since the two issues of Palestine and Iraq were the Meeting's agenda.

3.       The Meeting was convened at the Headquarters of the General Secretariat, and was chaired by Dr. Abu Bakr Al-Qurbi, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Yemen and Chairman of the 32nd Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM).

4.       The Meeting discussed the following items included on its agenda

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THE ISSUE OF PALESTINE

10.     The Meeting commended the fairness of the Palestinian legislative elections, which have demonstrated the ability of the Palestinian people to organize free and democratic elections, as attested by all observers. The meeting expressed its appreciation and respect for the will of the Palestinian people. The Meeting further reiterated its full support for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and its institutions and for the Palestinian national dialogue aimed at forming a national-unity government. The Meeting called on the international community to respect the will of the Palestinian people and avoid any preconceived judgments on the new Government. The Meeting also invited the international community to refrain from applying prohibitive standards to the elected Palestinian leadership. The Meeting called on the Quartet Committee to bring necessary pressure to bear upon Israel in order to put an end to its practices, which are in contradiction with the Roadmap and the international legality, and condemned the unilateral Israeli measures carried out by the occupation authorities, including the isolation of the eastern sector of the West Bank (the Jordanian Ghor) from the rest of the Palestinian territories.

11.     The Meeting strongly condemned Israel's brutal aggression on Jericho jail on 14 March 2006, which resulted in the killing of a number of Palestinians and the arrest of the Popular Front's Secretary General and his inmates. This aggression further demonstrates Israel's violation of international agreements and conventions. The Meeting, accordingly, appealed to the international community and the Quartet to immediately intervene in order to put an end to the continuous Israeli aggression and to ensure the immediate handing over of the Palestinian inmates back to the Palestinian authority.

12.     The Meeting requested the international community to denounce the recourse to the double standard policy in dealing with the Palestinian issue and to adopt balanced measures towards the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people so as to relieve them from the daily suffering and aggression to which they continue to be exposed.

13.     The Meeting called for enabling the Palestinian people to establish their independent Palestinian State with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative, the Roadmap, the UN Security Council Resolution 1515, and other relevant international resolutions. The Meeting called on the international community to support and help the Palestinian people and their national economy to meet their urgent needs in the occupied Palestinian territories.

14.     The Meeting reaffirmed the centrality of Al-Quds Al-Sharif for the Muslim Ummah and condemned the Israeli measures aimed at altering the Arab-Islamic identity of this holy city by attempts to isolate it through settlements and separation wall; by depopulating it; and by attacking its Islamic and Christian sacred shrines. The Meeting therefore underlined the seriousness of the Israeli threats and warned of the dangers to the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque, particularly from the excavations that Israel is making beneath the very foundations of the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque and the attempts by extremists to assault this sacred shrine.

15.     The Meeting paid tribute to the efforts of the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), including his international contacts to explain the position of the OIC on the issue of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif. The Meeting urged continued efforts to be made in cooperation with the Member States and the international community so as to exhort them to continue to provide political and material support to the Palestinian people in order to enable them to achieve their independence and establish their independent Palestinian State with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

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Jeddah: 15 March 2006.

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[1] The OIC Executive Committee is composed of:

[2] The Foreign Minister of Palestine could not participate in the Meeting because of the closure of the passages by Israeli authorities following the Jericho incident of 14 March 2006.