Jeddah: After an emergency foreign ministers’ meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Sunday to discuss the Israeli prime minister’s pre-election pledge to annex part of the West Bank, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) expressed its “total rejection” to the pledge.
Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday made a deeply controversial promise to annex the
strategic Jordan Valley. It must be noted that the valley accounts for around a
third of the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu is battling to win re-election in polls. He reiterated his promise to annex Israeli settlements in the wider West Bank, but in coordination with US President Donald Trump.
Expressing “its total rejection and strong condemnation of the Israeli Prime Minister’s declaration”, the 57-member pan-Islamic body stated: “This dangerous declaration… deliberately undermines international efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace… and pushes the whole region toward further violence and instability.” Arab News reported.
The emergency meeting of OIC foreign ministers called at the request of Saudi Arabia was addressed by the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ibrahim Al-Assaf, OIC Secretary General, Yousef Al-Othaimeen, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki and others.