OIC MEETING CALLS ON THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO ASSUME ITS RESPONSIBILITIES TOWARDS GOLAN HEIGHTS

The Expanded Extraordinary Meeting of the OIC Executive Committee condemned in the strongest terms the Israeli government’s holding of its weekly session on the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and the ensuing statements by the Israeli head of government that the “Golan will remain with Israel forever.” The meeting considered this as part of the ongoing attempts by the occupation to consolidate the annexation of the occupied Golan, in flagrant violation of relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly and the principles of international law.

The Final Communique of the meeting held on the issue of the occupied Golan at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, reiterated the OIC’s constant position that the Golan Heights is a Syrian Arab territory. It affirmed its unconditional support for the legitimate rights of the Syrian people to regain their full sovereignty over the Golan up to the line of June 1967.

The meeting called upon the international community, particularly the Security Council, to assume its responsibilities in compelling Israel to implement international legitimacy resolutions which call for full withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands, including the Golan, the Palestinian territory, Sheba Farms and the Lebanese Kafr Shuba Hills.

At the opening session, the Permanent Representative of the State of Kuwait to the OIC, H.E. Mr Saleh Al-Sagabi, delivered a statement in which he affirmed the Arab character of the Syrian Golan, pursuant to resolutions of the United Nations and other regional organisations, in particular Security Council resolution 497, Arab League resolution 7928 and OIC ministerial council resolution 3/42. He reiterated that all the resolutions reject all arbitrary and illegal measures pursued by the occupation authorities in its design to change the legal and demographic condition of the Golan.

Al-Sagabi stated that the OIC meeting has confirmed to the whole world that the Muslim world, through the OIC, rejects and condemns all Israeli hostile practices against the Golan and its inhabitants. He affirmed the OIC’s commitment to international and regional resolutions adopted in this regard and its opposition to the arbitrary and unwise policies of the occupation rejecting the peace process and seeking to create perpetual crises in the region.

In the speech of H.E. Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the OIC, delivered on his behalf by Ambassador Samir Bakr Diyab, Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif Affairs, he said that the OIC reaffirms the importance of supporting the mandate and work of the committee investigating the Israeli policies which breach the human rights of the Palestinian people and other populations in occupied Arab lands since 1967, including the occupied Syrian Golan. He also stated that it was important to follow up the implementation of the previous recommendations contained in the periodic reports of the Ad Hoc Committee and the Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian as well as the resolutions passed by the international commissions of inquiry within the United Nations bodies.

The Secretary General also called on the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and apply pressure on Israel to comply with all international legitimacy resolutions, particularly Security Council resolutions 242, 338 and 497 all of which affirm the need for full Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Palestinian and Arab lands, including the occupied Syrian Golan.

The Secretary General also addressed the need for the Islamic Group in Geneva to continue to work closely with all Member States to ensure large scaleparticipation in the discussion of item 7 at the Human Rights Council concerning the situation of human rights in occupied Palestine and other occupied Arab lands, including the Golan Heights.