OIC’s Significant Responsibility as Gaza War Is at a Critical Juncture

In the middle of such a crisis, tens of Muslim officials gathered on Saturday and Sunday in Gambia for 15th summit of the Islamic Cooperation Organization (OIC) to discuss Gaza developments. A majority of the 57 leaders of the Muslim countries sent representatives to the summit, but a number of African heads of state like Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye themselves attended the event.

The two-day summit was held with its theme being "Enhancing Unity and Solidarity through Dialogue for Sustainable Development." International issues including the current situation in Palestine and the war of the Israeli regime on Gaza were discussed. In this meeting, issues related to rejecting hate speech, the phenomenon of Islamophobia, promoting dialogue, and issues related to climate change and food security were also discussed.

In this meeting, a total of three documents, including the draft of a resolution on Palestine, the draft of the Banjul statement and the draft of the final document of the summit of leaders are presented to the meeting of Foreign Ministerial Council and then the main summit. The meeting ended with a final statement that included the positions of the OIC on the issues raised in the summit and the resolution of Palestine and Banjul statement. 

Immediate end to Gaza war 

The central theme of the meeting was Gaza developments, with participants calling for end of genocide against Palestinians in this enclave that has been under a tight siege since 2007. Hussein Ibrahim Taha, the OIC secretary-general, in his opening speech said that the meeting is held at a time dangerous and unprecedented developments are happening in the Palestinian case, especially the continuation of the barbarous military crimes in Gaza. He called on the member states to step up their solidarity with the Palestinian cause and adopt a resolution regarding Palestine. 

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in his address of the summit said: "The kingdom calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza." He emphasized the importance of providing safe humanitarian corridors to end the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. 

In his speech, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called for pressure to implement Gaza-related Security Council resolutions to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, to send humanitarian aid, and to warn about the invasion of Rafah by the Israeli occupation forces. 

Iran's Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian in his speech highlighted the need for bolstering unity of the Muslim countries to push for cessation of Israeli genocide, "combined war crimes", and immediate and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid across Gaza Strip. 

"Achieving stable and just peace and security in the region is only possible through the end of the occupation of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland and guaranteeing the realization of their right to self-determination," Amir-Abdollahian said 

Adding that the Muslim world has high expectations of the OIC members, Amir-Abdollahian reminded the member states of the measures they need to take in the current conditions. The complete lifting of the blockade of Gaza, the swap of prisoners, the obliging of the Israeli regime to completely and unconditionally withdraw from Gaza, offering international guarantees to the safe return of the people to their regions and places, and imposing an immediate arms and trade embargo on the Israeli regime were among the proposals that Amir-Abdollahian made to other members. 

For boosting inter-Islamic relations, Amir-Abdollahian said: "In order to deepen the level of cooperation and spread sustainable and all-round development, the network of economic, technical, developmental, commercial and financial-monetary cooperation among the Islamic countries should be further strengthened in the context of targeted and joint agreements and mechanisms."

Iran is the biggest supporter of Palestine and over the past 45 years, it has constantly defended the Palestinian cause and the pro-liberation struggle of Palestinians. 

From the point of view of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the only way to end the Palestinian dispute is to hold free elections in the occupied Palestinian territories. Exercising the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their historical land, holding a national referendum among the Palestinian people who lived in Palestine before the Balfour Declaration, forming the political system endorsed by the majority of the Palestinian people, and deciding on the status of the non-indigenous residents of Palestine by the political system chosen by the majority are the main plans of Iran for Palestine conflict. 

Practical action against Tel Aviv the only way to stop Gaza genocide 

Gambia summit is held while the performance of the OIC over the past seven months of Gaza war has been unacceptable to the Muslim world public that expect the Muslim governments to walk the walk and not just talk the talk given the extent of the Israeli massacres in Gaza. 

In November 2023, the organization convened for a joint meeting with the Arab League in Riyadh and condemned the attacks of Israeli forces in Gaza, but did not announce economic and political punitive measures against the occupying regime. That summit underscored regional differences over how to deal with the war, amid fears that the conflict could spread to the region. 

In the second meeting held in March in Jeddah, Muslim countries again condemned the Israeli crimes and stressed the need for efforts to stop war and send humanitarian aid to Gazans. Muslim countries also expressed their strong opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians. They are expected to take serious actions against the Israeli crimes in Gaza. 

This meeting comes as anti-Israeli protests are sweeping the world, especially the American and Western universities, and the world community is calling for pressures on the Israeli regime and recognition of an independent Palestinian state. 

Turkey, as a OIC member, took strong positions against the occupation regime in recent days. The Turkish government announced on Thursday that it has suspended all imports from and exports to Israel due to the military operation in Gaza and vowed to continue ban on trade with Israel until Tel Aviv allows humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Therefore, given the anti-Israeli wave unfolding across the world, the Muslim states should take punitive measures against Tel Aviv. The Muslim world public since seven months ago have been demanding a serious confrontation of the Israeli crimes, and as long as Israel is not slapped with economic and political sanctions, it will continue its genocidal war on Gaza and the West Bank. 

One factor that emboldens Tel Aviv hardliners to continue the occupation and genocide in Gaza is the silence and hidden support of some Arab countries that instead of helping the people of Gaza have opened a trade corridor to the Israeli goods through their territories as Israeli ports in the Red are shut down by a Yemeni ban in place since about five months ago. 

With regard to its capacities, the OIC can take collective actions to build deterrence against the Israeli regime and force Israelis to end their brutality. Severing political and economic ties with Tel Aviv is one practical action the bloc over which can have a consensus. 

If the 57 Muslim states had taken a strong stance against the Israeli regime, the war could have ended by now and the Israelis would have withdrawn from Gaza for fear of risks to the normalization process with Arab states, despite widespread Western support. But with some signals some concilatory Arab rulers are sending to Tel Aviv, Israeli leaders press ahead with their crimes confidently as they are sure that even massacring hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will not stir Arab reactions and normalization project will suffer no damage.