By IINA,
Jeddah : The Expanded Executive Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting at the ministerial level at the OIC headquarters here next Saturday. The meeting will discuss the grave situation in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli aggression and the atrocities committed by Israeli forces against the Palestinian people, and to secure the complete and permanent lifting of the embargo imposed on Gaza, according to an OIC press statement.
A preparatory meeting at the OIC ambassadorial level is scheduled to be held at the OIC headquarters today.
On another level, the OIC Secretary General Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu held phone talks with several Muslim leaders and heads of state, such as Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who currently holds OIC Presidency, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa, Turkish Foreign MinisterAli Babacan, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa, in addition to Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’s Political Bureau. During the talks, they explored the ways and means of mobilizing international support to put an end to the Israeli aggression.
Also, Prof. Ihsanoglu sent letters to the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union Javier Solana, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband. In his letters, the Secretary General called for exerting pressure to induce Israel to put an end to its aggression against the Palestinian people. He pointed out that this aggression constitutes a blatant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and international laws and conventions. He also called on these officials to mobilize international support to immediately stop the Israeli aggression.