Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World

OIC Stresses Palestinian People’s Right to their Homeland, Calls on Britain and Other Countries to Fully Recognize the State of Palestine

Date: 01/11/2017

The second of November 2017 will mark the first one hundredth anniversary of the issue of Arthur Balfour’s promise, then Foreign Minister of Britain, under which he committed to the creation of “a national home for the Jews on the land of Palestine’ a promise made by one who is not a rightful owner to someone who has no legitimate right (to the promised object). It was a promise that formed the concrete start of the historical injustice whose tragic consequences are still endured today by the Palestinian people, victims of a still ongoing decades-long occupation, with its attendant oppression, forcible displacement, ethnic cleansing and denial of their legitimate rights.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) reaffirms its indignation, as expressed earlier through the resolution issued by its latest conference of Foreign Ministers held in Abidjan, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, on 10-11 July 2017, in the face of the British Government’s intention to organize a celebration to mark the centenary of the said Balfour promise, which seriously prejudiced the Palestinian people’s rights. The OIC invites the British Government to adopt rather positive steps based on the historical, juridical, political and ethical responsibility it shoulders side by side with the international community to end the Israeli occupation, to fully recognize the State of Palestine and to accord justice to the Palestinian people and to help them recover their legitimate national rights.

On this occasion, the OIC reiterates its firm stand in support of the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination and to the establishment of their own independent state within the borders of 1967 with Al Quds / Jerusalem as its capital as well as the refugees’ right to return to their homeland under UN resolution 194.

The OIC also renews its commitment to aid the international efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive and fair justice, under the relevant UN resolutions and the Arab Peace initiative. The OIC further calls on the international community to shoulder its responsibility as to the adoption of effective measures to compel Israel, the occupying power, to uphold its commitments under international law and put an end to its illegal policies, practices and expansionist plans on the territories of the occupied Palestine State which plans are undermining to the achievement of a just peace based on the Two-State vision.

On this occasion, the OIC also wishes to pay a particular tribute and sincere marks of respect and admiration to the resisting Palestinian people with their steadfast attachment to their homeland and their abiding defense of their territories and sanctities in the face of the Israeli occupant’s policies.

Related: Alquds

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