ISTANBUL, Turkey – The biggest grouping of Islamic nations put aside differences and recognised East Jerusalem as the capital of occupied Palestine, the most concrete response yet to the American move of recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The surprise announcement came despite Saudi Arabia and its allies sending low-level officials to the heads of state Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul on Wednesday, suggesting an unwillingness to adopt a strong position.
(We) declare East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine and invite all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital
- Communique of the OIC
The final communique declared "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine" and invited "all countries to recognise the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital".
It stated it rejected and condemned "in the strongest terms the unilateral decision by the President of the United States America recognising Al-Quds [Jerusalem] as the so-called capital of Israel, the occupying power."
It said the move was considered "null and void legally" and "an attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people, a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts, an impetus to extremism and terrorism, and a threat to international peace and security".
"I believe that we showed the world today that Jerusalem is not alone nor abandoned," a triumphant Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced at a post-summit news conference flanked by Palestine's president, Mahmoud Abbas, and OIC secretary general, Yousef al-Othaimeen.
"I want this display of unity over Jerusalem to be a lesson to everyone. As 1.7 billion Muslims we rejected Trump's decision today. We will never give up on Palestine.
"Today's summit was a message of decisiveness towards US provocation. There is no need [for them] to continue with a mistake."
"We repeatedly warned the United States that it was plunging the region into fire with that wrong decision."
Undercover Israeli police arrest a Palestinian demonstrator near the illegal settlement of Beit El on 13 December (Reuters)
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