Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 24/05/2023
The Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in its extraordinary, open-ended meeting, held on Wednesday, 24th May 2023, at the headquarters of the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at the request of the State of Palestine and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and in coordination and consultation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the current Chair of the Islamic Summit and the Executive Committee, to discuss the dangerous developments in the occupied city of AL-Quds, following storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Qudsi Al-Sharif by a minister in the Israeli government, guarded and protected by the Israeli occupation forces,
Proceeding from the principles and objectives of the Charter of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,
Affirming all relevant resolutions of the Islamic Summits, Councils of Foreign Ministers and extraordinary meetings of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation;
Reiterating the centrality of the Cause of Palestine, on top of which is Al-Quds Al-Sharif, for the entire Muslim Ummah:
1. Affirms that the Israeli minister's storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and violating its sanctity is a provocative step that is condemned in the strongest terms and represents a flagrant and unacceptable violation of international law and the existing historical and legal status in AL-Quds and its holy sites, and that it is a dangerous escalation that requires the international community, including the Security Council, to work immediately to stop it through effective steps that would compel Israel, the occupying power, to stop its attacks on the Palestinian people and its violations of international law and international humanitarian law, and not to take any provocative steps in Al-Quds Al-Sharif that would prejudice the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world and threaten security and stability in the region, stressing that there is no sovereignty for Israel over AL-Quds and the holy sites, and that East Jerusalem is an occupied Palestinian land.
2. Confirms that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif, with its entire area of 144 dunums, is a pure place of worship for Muslims, and that AL-Quds Endowments and the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department affiliated to the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites is the legal authority with exclusive jurisdiction to manage all affairs of Al-Quds Al-Sharif and organize access to it, and further affirms the right of the State of Palestine to sovereignty over the occupied city of East Jerusalem, and that Israel, the occupying power, has no right nor sovereignty over the occupied city of AL-Quds and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.
3. Condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation government's setting a dangerous precedent by holding its meeting in a tunnel, one of the illegal Israeli excavations and tunnels network, located adjacent to the Western Wall of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, a few days after it approved its sponsorship of the so-called condemned flags march that stormed the neighborhoods of the Old City of AL-Quds under the protection of the occupation forces. It also affirms that such provocative and illegal actions are null and void and have no legal effect.
4. Underlines the importance of the continuation of concerted efforts of the Member States to protect the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the occupied city of AL-Quds, the capital of the State of Palestine, and to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian citizens of Al-Quds in the face of aggressive Israeli policies and practices aimed at controlling the city, changing its original Arab character and identity, changing its existing historical and legal status, and imposing the temporal and spatial division on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Qudsi Al-Sharif. It further affirms support for the Hashemite Custodianship over the Islamic and Christian holy sites in AL-Quds and its role in protecting its Arab, Islamic and Christian identity.
5. Reaffirms the important role of Al-Quds Committee under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohamed VI, of Morocco, in challenging the detrimental policies implemented by the Israeli occupation authorities in Al-Quds Al-Sharif to change the character and legal status of the city as well as its demographic, cultural and historical composition; and values the role of Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency.
6. Calls upon the international community and the Security Council to put pressure on Israel, the occupying power, to stop these Israeli violations, including settlement expansion and all measures aimed at changing the legal and historical status quo in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which would push the situation in the region to further deterioration, holding Israel fully responsible for the results of its provocative and illegal actions.
7. Stresses the need to activate efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace on the basis of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions and the two-state solution that guarantees the establishment of an independent, sovereign, geographically contiguous and viable Palestinian state on the lines of 04 June 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, and to stop all illegal Israeli measures that undermine this solution.
8. Appreciates the positions of the countries that expressed their rejection and condemnation of the provocative and aggressive Israeli storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and which affirmed their positions refusing to change the existing legal and historical status of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in AL-Quds, foremost of which is the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
