ISTANBUL — Muslim nations on Friday condemned Israel and the inauguration of the American embassy in contested Jerusalem as a “provocation and hostility against” the Islamic world, while Turkey’s president called for action, including a peacekeeping force.
A final communique from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in Istanbul “reaffirmed the centrality of the Palestinian cause” after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the rotating term president of the OIC, called an extraordinary summit.
The call came on the heels of a week that has seen Turkey take a leading role in condemning Israeli actions in Gaza — Monday’s killing of 59 Palestinians and wounding of hundreds of others was the deadliest day of cross-border violence in Gaza since a 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.
As part of its efforts, the Turkish government organized a massive rally and the OIC summit, in a show of solidarity.
Speaking at the closing of the OIC late Friday, Erdogan said the international community “must stop watching the massacres from the bleachers” as Palestinian youth are killed by “Israeli terror,” proposing an international peacekeeping force.
In its declaration, the OIC said Israel committed “savage crimes” with the backing of Donald Trump’s administration, emboldened by the United States’ decision to recognize Jerusalem.
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah criticized the U.S. for becoming “part of the problem and not the solution” and thereby disqualified itself as a peace process mediator by infringing on the Palestinians’ “historic, legal, natural and national rights” with Monday’s embassy move.
The OIC threatened other countries considering following suit, including Guatemala, which has already made the move to Jerusalem, with “political, economic and other measures.”
Iranian President Hasan Rouhani spoke earlier as participants broke their fast for Ramadan, calling the Trump administration a “dangerous threat” to global peace and security.
Rouhani said Muslim nations should consider “revising” political and economic ties with the U.S., and called on the international community to “cut ties” with Israel and boycott it through trade.
“If Israel faces a united front of Islamic nations, it will never be able to continue its crimes,” the Iranian president said. He cited the example of the “new and young generation of Palestine who is aware of their rights and has no intention to withdraw or compromise.”
