By IINA,
Jeddah : The 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) led the Muslim world’s outrage at the Gaza carnage perpetrated by the Israeli forces. OIC denounced Israel’s massacre of Palestinians and urged the international community to stop this barbarism immediately. “The latest Israeli massacre is a war crime and shows what little regard Israel has for international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in time of war,” OIC Secretary General Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement. Meanwhile, The UN Security Council ended emergency talks with a call for an end to hostilities, speaking of “serious concern” at the escalation of the situation in Gaza. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Middle East envoy Tony Blair and the French EU presidency all called for a ceasefire.
The Secretary General of OIC, the largest Muslim organization in the world, called on Palestinian factions to “begin an immediate national dialogue with the aim of restoring unity and ending divisions that grievously harm the Palestinian cause.”
Prof. Ihsanoglu said he would soon call for a meeting of the OIC executive committee to discuss the situation in Gaza and urged the international community to take urgent action “to end Israeli violations and protect the Palestinian people.”
The General Secretariat of the Muslim World League (MWL) called on the governments of Islamic countries, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), and the Arab League to urgently contact the international organizations and peace-loving countries to stop the Israel aggression against Gaza and lift its blockade. The MWL appealed to the United Nations and human rights organizations in the world to exert their urgent efforts to save the people of Gaza from the Israeli massacres.
In a statement, MWL Secretary General Dr. Abdullah Al demanded the UN Security Council to take necessary measures to force Israel to stop this aggression that hampers peace efforts in the region and for the Palestinians to attain their legitimate rights. The statement considered the Israeli air strikes as a vicious act violating the international laws and human norms.
In a similar statement, GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah called upon the international community to act quickly to stop “the heinous massacre and barbaric acts being committed by Israeli military forces” against Palestinians. “Big powers, especially the United States, have a responsibility in this difficult times to stop the Israeli policy of collective punishment of Palestinians,” Al-Attiyah said in a statement. The GCC chief said the Israeli massacre reflected that the Jewish state had no intention to have peace. “Despite the peace initiatives, conferences and agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel over the past years, scenes of killing, destruction and dispelling and starving of Palestinians continue.”
He denounced yesterday’s Israeli bombing that killed more than 200 people and injured about 300 others. Al-Attiyah also denounced the silence of the international community, especially the US, toward the Israeli massacre in Gaza. “This demands quick move for an international initiative under the auspices of the United Nations to protect Palestinians.” He reiterated the GCC’s unwavering support for the Palestinians to restore their legitimate rights.
Saudi Arabia urged the United States to intervene to end Israel’s attack on Gaza. “Superpowers should take responsibility to stop these attacks,” Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah told US President George W. Bush in a telephonic conversation yesterday, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. King Abdullah said the attack was a continuation of “Israeli policies of occupation and mistreatment of Palestinians.” “Major countries should shoulder their responsibilities to stop this Israeli attack and save the lives of the innocent and remaining infrastructure in the Palestinian territories,” he said.
Separately, an official source stated that Saudi Arabia is following with deep concern the collapse of the truce status and the flagrant aggression perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip without any consideration of any moral principles, human considerations or resolutions by the international legitimacy. While condemning and strongly rejecting this Israeli aggression, Saudi Arabia, for its part, is making urgent contacts to stop this bloody Israeli transgression against the brothers in Palestine, the source said.
The exiled leader of Hamas Khaled Meshaal called for a new Intifada, or uprising, against Israel, while the movement’s Gaza leader, Ismail Haniya, called the attack an “ugly massacre”. International reaction to the bombing has been dominated by calls for restraint.