OIC Press Release

Dr. Abdelouahed Belkeziz, the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), has been following with great concern the news of the brutal attack being waged by the Israeli forces against the Palestinian people and their National Authority at a time when the Arab nation has reached out in peace to Israel in an initiative which has won the consensus of the whole world and only hours after the Palestinian President declared an unconditional cease-fire and his readiness to cooperate immediately to ensure the success of Anthony Zinne’s mission to implement the Tennet recommendations and those of the Mitchell Report.

In the face of these grave developments in the Palestinian territories, the Secretary-General expresses his denunciation and condemnation of the Israeli military aggression against the Palestinian people, targeting the person of the President of their National Authority, violating his private residence by bombardment, destruction, and occupation, and desecrating the precincts of Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in the city of Al-Quds—all of which is fraught with grave consequences for international security and peace.

In this connection, the Secretary-General has been making contacts and consultations with President Yasser Arafat, the Chairmanship of the Islamic Summit Conference, and a number of officials in Islamic States in order to coordinate with them the adoption of the necessary positions to face this aggression.

In order to avert further deterioration of conditions in the region, the Secretary-General called for the convening of an urgent and extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council, as the competent mechanism in charge of maintaining international security and peace, with the aim of halting the Israeli aggression, compelling Israel to withdraw its offensive forces, and dispatching international observers to protect the Palestinian people.

The Secretary-General reaffirmed that President Yasser Arafat is the legitimate and elected representative of the Palestinian people and warned of the consequences of harming him, holding all elements of the Israeli government responsible for his safety.

In this respect, Dr. Belkeziz issued instructions to the OIC Representative to the United Nations in New York to immediately initiate the necessary action and contacts on this issue with the Islamic Group. On another front, the Secretary-General addressed an appeal to Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, to the international community, and to the Permanent Member States of the UN Security Council to intervene promptly so as to safeguard the safety and security of President Yasser Arafat and halt the ongoing Israeli aggression, underlining that Israel’s security will not be achieved by resorting to brutal and destructive measures but through a just and lasting peace that is reached by mutual agreement with an independent, sovereign Palestinian State with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.