OIC Holds Emergency Meeting on Israeli War on Palestine
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki of the Palestinian Authority decried Israel’s “cowardly attacks” at the start of the meeting.
“We need to tell Allah that we will resist to the last day,” he said. “We are facing a long-term occupation. that’s the base of the problem. Crimes are committed against the Palestinians without consequences.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in his address that “Israel alone is responsible for the recent escalation in East Jerusalem al-Quds, the West Bank and Gaza.”
“Our warnings to Israel last week went unheeded,” Cavusoglu added, according to AP.
Across the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf states, reactions to the fighting has been mixed. In Qatar, home to the Al-Jazeera satellite network, hundreds turned out late Saturday night to listen to a speech by Hamas’ top leader Ismail Haniyeh. He now splits his time between Turkey and Qatar, both of which back Hamas, as does Iran.
“The resistance will not give in,” Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh said. He added that “resistance is the shortest road to Jerusalem al-Quds” and that Palestinians will not accept anything less than a Palestinian state with Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
