By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
The communique released in Istanbul yesterday at the end of the extraordinary summit of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), although it declared the Zionist occupied Islamic holy city of Bayt al-Moqaddas as capital of the Palestine state that still does not exist, and ruled as "null, void and violation of international laws” the decision of the quixotic US president, Donald Trump, to shift the American embassy to that particular city which he roguishly called "Israel’s capital”, it did nothing to change the realities on the ground in Palestine proper or practical measures to mobilize world Muslims for its liberation.
The speech of Iran’s President, Hojjat al-Islam Dr. Hassan Rouhani, including his emphasis on unity, cooperation and dialogue among Muslim states without any pre-conditions to resolve differences, and the fact that it were the secret dealings of certain OIC member states with the illegal Zionist entity that emboldened the US to make its criminal move, was impressive and drew applause from the audience.
The host, Turkey’s President Rajab Tayyeb Erdoghan, for his part delivered a fiery speech by calling, for the first time, the Zionist entity as a "terror state”, and saying the US has forfeited all claims to be a mediator for resolving the chronic question of Palestine.
But, as said above, how will the equations change in the Zionist usurped land of Palestine which since the past seven decades has been reeling under the jackboots of the illegal Jewish migrants from Europe, who have no connection whatsoever to the land which the British occupiers gifted to them as "Israel” and where not only the Islamic heritage is being erased but also the legacy of Christianity.
Irrespective of the absence of the Saudi ruler or his self-imposed heir at the OIC summit – the duo is known as bosom friends of the US and Israel and their pictures are being burned almost daily by Palestinians for treason against Islam’s first qibla – there were many participants at Istanbul who are unwilling to go beyond rhetoric because of their unequal relationship with Washington.
For the sake of Islamic unity, we won’t name the said countries or their pro American rulers, but it is a fact that they were in Turkey for courtesy’s sake and will never sever or downgrade their ties with the US, for obvious reasons.
So what sense does the phrase in the OIC communique of "holding Trump’s administration liable for all the consequences of not retracting from this illegal decision”, make?
There was no mention of providing any economic aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Bayt al-Moqaddas, who are daily being targeted by the police and military forces of Israel, let alone discussions on serious military measures to end their plight.
In such a case what impact will the OIC Summit, although it was a welcome development and showed the resolve among Muslim states to keep the issue of Palestine, will make in international circles?
If OIC is not the appropriate forum for openly discussing such topics, then the officials of those Muslim states serious on supporting the Palestinians by all means, should get together for exclusive talks, similar to the measures taken over a quarter century earlier by Iran and a few conscious Islamic countries to bolster the defences of the oppressed Bosnian Muslims in the fight against the Serb aggressors.
It paid dividends then, and should do it now in the case of Palestine, the moment the world of Islam is ready to resolve its differences and put up a united force – not for bombarding Yemen or meddling in the internal affairs of independent anti-US and anti-Zionist states.
It is about time the Muslim World awakened to the realities and took action to change the equations on the ground in the occupied land of Palestine.