Ihsanoglu said in a meeting held in the OIC secretariat headquarters in Jeddah on Sunday that the unjust Israeli blockade has been prolonged, and Israel’s siege of 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza does not only violate international law but also conflicts with the most basic ethical humanitarian concepts.
The secretary general called on a team of legal experts to discuss ways to guarantee an end to the Israeli siege on Gaza, and to make practical suggestions about the paths OIC countries and civil organizations can take to end the siege.
“Dealing with the siege issue requires working on several tracks, such as the political, humanitarian, and legal [tracks],” Ihsanoglu said.
He mentioned that the OIC put forth as much effort as possible to end the injustice on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The OIC executive committee held several meetings to discuss the blockade and made many important resolutions, including the resolution of November 2006, and has also taken steps to guarantee that Israeli war criminals are brought to justice.
Ihsanoglu said the siege issue is a top priority on bi- and multilateral meetings personally held with world leaders and officials.
The expert team includes representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Senegal, Palestine, and Malaysia. It aims at discussing the ways and mechanisms to ensure the Israeli siege on Gaza is broken.
The OIC said the legal team was formed under a resolution the OIC legislative committee issued in an emergency meeting with several foreign ministers in June 6, which was convened immediately after Israel’s attack on the Freedom Flotilla, which carried humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
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