Ghaseb alqarni-Dammam

The Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), His Excellency Mr. Hissein Brahim Taha, delivered a speech at the opening session of the open-ended extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee at the level of Foreign Ministers, which was held to discuss the ongoing crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people and infringing on the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The meeting took place at the headquarters of the OIC General Secretariat today, Wednesday, August 7, 2024, in the presence of His Excellency Dr. Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Gambia, Chairman of the 15th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference, and Foreign Ministers and Heads of Delegations of the Executive Committee members as well as OIC Member States.

The Secretary-General strongly condemned war crimes and genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and the City of Al-Quds Ash-Sharif, the most recent of which was the assassination of Mr. Ismail Haniyeh, former Palestinian Prime Minister, while he was in Iran.

The Secretary-General stated that Israel’s persistence in these crimes, as it stops at nothing in breaking every international law and resolution, constitutes infringement upon Iran’s sovereignty and national security, in flagrant violation of the principles of international law and the provisions of the United Nations Charter.

Mr. Brahim Taha called upon the UN Security Council to assume its responsibilities and take the necessary measures to compel Israel, the occupying power, to respect the rule of international law and stop its aggression and attacks that threaten regional and international peace and security, demand to an immediate and comprehensive cessation of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and avoid the risk of full-scale regional war that would undermine the security and stability of the entire Middle East region.

The Secretary-General stressed the need to mobilize joint efforts to compel Israel to abide by the international legitimacy resolutions, and to take the necessary measures to implement the recent advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice regarding the illegality of the Israeli occupation and holding it accountable for all its crimes, in accordance with the international criminal law.

The Secretary-General also condemned all illegal Israeli measures, including vetoing resolutions on the establishment of a Palestinian state, and designation of UNRWA as a terrorist organization. He called for providing more political and financial support to UNRWA’s budget, to enable it to exercise its vital role in providing basic services to Palestinian refugees and contributing to alleviating the humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Hissein Brahim Taha also called on the key players in the international community to sponsor a political process to end the Israeli occupation and achieve peace based on the vision of the two-state solution in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions, and to expand recognition of the State of Palestine and support its membership in the United Nations. In this context, His Excellency the Secretary-General praised the tremendous efforts of the Ministerial Committee formed by the extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic summit held in Riyadh, chaired by His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who visited several major countries to hold intensive consultations to resolve the Palestinian issue.