Member States of OIC Reiterate Their Support for Palestinians Right to Self Determination

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Member States of the OIC said Sunday that they have reiterated their support to the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle to attain their inalienable rights to self-determination and to establish their sovereign state.

They made the declaration during the closing ceremony of the 1th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The document called the Banjul Declaration, reaffirmed their condemnation of the Israeli military aggression against Palestine calling on countries of the world to take action and stop the crime of genocide committed by the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and also implement the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice; and affirm that all efforts should be made to accelerate the delivery of all humanitarian aid and reject any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.

They continued to call upon the international community to compel the Occupying power to abide by international law, and United Nations resolutions and end its illegal occupation, colonization of and apartheid in the Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. 

The Member States added that failure to do so is bound to prolong the conflict and cause further suffering and instability in the region and diminish the chances of a “Two-State Solution”.

They said they are in full solidarity with the Palestinian People in their struggle to free themselves from foreign occupation and colonization and condemn all illegal actions aimed at denying them their legitimate rights, commend the role of UNRWA in serving the Palestinian refugees and invite all States and the international community to continue supporting it to execute its historic mandate and responsibility.

“We call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of the all-out aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza, as well as for providing humanitarian, medical, and relief aid, providing water and electricity, and opening humanitarian corridors to deliver urgent aid to the Gaza Strip in an unhindered and adequate manner,” the Banjul Declaration stated. 

The declaration continued to mention the importance of living decent live and protection of the rights of Muslim communities and minorities in non-OIC Member States.

They expressed their solidarity with Muslim communities and minorities in a number of non-OIC Member States who face persecution, injustice and aggression. 

They called for support to their legitimate causes, and call for further international efforts to safeguard their rights, dignity and religious and cultural identity.

The OIC member states reaffirmed the continued political, moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people and call upon the United Nations Security Council to take effective measures to implement its resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir to enable the Kashmiri people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination through a UN-supervised plebiscite. 

The leaders also pledged to continue deliberations on full activation of the OIC Peace and Security architecture and appreciate Islamic Republic of Pakistan for initiating discussion to deliberate and develop mechanisms for conflict prevention, meditation, reconciliation, and peace building to address contemporary challenges and conflicts confronting the Muslim Ummah. 

As well as reaffirmed their support for a peaceful, stable, prosperous and inclusive Afghanistan and in this regard reiterate the need to address the challenges faced by the Afghan people, such as humanitarian, human rights, ethnic groups, security and terrorism, narcotics and social challenges.