OIC Drafts Declaration on Palestine
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said the two documents, one on the resolution
containing a set of political calls from the member countries and the Jakarta
Declaration, containing concrete steps to be pursued on the issue of Palestine,
were discussed among the 605 delegates from 57 countries participating in the
summit.
In her opening address at the ministerial meeting, Retno reiterated Indonesia's
support for Palestinian reconciliation and stated its commitment to assist in
capacity building in Palestine.
"The government and people of Indonesia are ready to pledge US$1.5 million
annually for the next few years. In addition, Indonesia also recently
contributed a $1 million grant through the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)," Retno said.
The minister did not disclose details of the drafts, which have gone through
two stages of discussion, at the senior official meeting (SOM) before they were
brought to the ministerial level. Retno said the documents needed to be
approved by the heads of state before they could be disclosed to the public.
However, she underlined that negotiations exhibited a sense of solidarity,
commitment and unity from all OIC member countries to continue to assist in the
fight to find a resolution for the Palestinian people. Input from delegates
mainly consisted of suggestions on how to strengthen said documents, she added.
Hasan Kleib, the Foreign Ministry's director general of multilateral affairs,
who led the SOM discussions, said drafts of the documents were disseminated to
members two weeks prior to the summit, with discussion during the summit aimed
at deepening understanding and the content of the documents.
"The discussion was more focused on how to elevate, or strengthen the
language in the documents," he said, adding that member countries were
unified in their efforts for a peaceful Palestine.
Previously, Hasan said that Palestine and the OIC secretary-general requested
an extraordinary summit in December on the sidelines of a UN Conference on "the
question of Jerusalem”. Palestine requested a meeting to specifically address
issues on Jerusalem.
Hasan said the drafted declaration included steps to solve border issues, in
which Palestine claims eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,
repatriation of Palestinian refugees, a status for Jerusalem, illegal
settlements, security issues and access to clean water.
The summit is also attended by observing countries Thailand and
Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Quartet on the Middle East (the UN, the EU, Russia and
the US) and the permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, China,
Russia, France and the UK).
Source: The Jakarta Post
