By IINA,
Jeddah : The Expanded Executive Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) at the level of the Permanent Representatives held an emergency meeting on Wednesday at the OIC headquarters. The meeting, convened in the run up to the ministerial meeting scheduled to be held at the OIC headquarters today, discussed the grave situation in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli aggression, according to an OIC statement.
In his opening speech, the OIC Secretary General Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said: “I can hardly find words to describe this ongoing tragedy in the Gaza Strip. It is without any doubt a violation of all human values. This tragedy necessitates a diligent, serious and effective Islamic action to bring it to an end and relieve the Palestinian people from its impact. We must make every effort to stop the bloodshed of the defenseless Palestinian people whose rights have been usurped and who have been thrown out in every part of the world and denied their freedom and their fundamental rights. Similarly, the international community must not accept that this tragedy to continue and should break the silence and act immediately.”
Prof. Ihsanoglu appealed to all the parties concerned, in Palestine and beyond, to put aside political calculations and act instead toward stemming the bloodshed and enabling the population in the Gaza Strip to maintain the little living conditions they still have. He continued by pointing out that, “Therefore, we call strongly for an immediate cease-fire and for the medical and humanitarian supplies to enter the Gaza Strip through all access points,” he said adding that the Executive Committee took, during its expanded extraordinary meeting held at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah on November 18, 2006, a decision that called on states to break the siege imposed on the Palestinian people, to act with the international community to end the embargo, and force Israel to release the tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority.