An emergency summit organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) under the auspices of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan kicked off in Istanbul Friday to discuss the latest developments in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The summit held for the second time in six months will be attended by representatives of 40 countries out of 57 including presidents vice presidents prime ministers foreign ministers and other high-level officials.
The Palestinian Authority government’s premier Rami Hamdallah will replace Mahmoud Abbas in the summit meetings which will be chaired by Turkey the current president of OIC.
Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said during the opening speech that other countries should be prevented from following the US lead and moving their embassies to Jerusalem.
According to Anadolu Agency Çavuşoğlu stressed that the Israeli forces must be held accountable for using lethal force against unarmed protesters in Gaza.
As for Jerusalem the Turkish minister said “We will raise our voice in the final statement of the summit against changing the historical status of Jerusalem.”
For his part the OIC Secretary General Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen said that the Israeli army’s killing of peaceful protesters in Gaza is a war crime and a crime against humanity.
Al-Othaimeen as quoted by Anadolu Agency said that the international community is responsible for protecting the Palestinian people against the Israeli killing machine pointing out that the absence of accountability has encouraged Israel to commit further crimes against the Palestinian people.
Al-Othaimeen stressed “The UN Security Council’s repeated failure to shoulder its responsibilities stop the Israeli crimes and even issue a statement that condemns the Israeli massacre (in Gaza) is a disgrace to this civilized world.”
The Israeli army on Monday the day the US opened its embassy in Jerusalem killed 62 Palestinians and injured about 3188 others while they were protesting peacefully along Gaza’s eastern border.
Turkish-Israeli diplomatic relations have been strained over the recent events especially after Erdoğan accused Israel which he described as an “apartheid state” of committing a genocide against the Palestinians.
A mass demonstration which Erdoğan called for is expected to be launched in Istanbul afternoon on the sidelines of the summit.
