Muslim summit calls for 'Int'l force' to protect Palestinians

Ankara: Member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday condemned "savage crimes" committed by Israeli against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and called the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people.

According to the final communique, the leaders from Islamic countries called on the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General, UN Human Rights Council, the special rapporteurs and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to take "necessary actions to form an international investigation committee into the recent atrocities in the Gaza Strip."

The Istanbul summit was attended by several heads of state, but Saudi Arabia, the host of the 57-member OIC, sent only a foreign ministry official. Saudi allies Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE also deployed lower level ministers.

Meanwhile the summit reaffirmed the importance of the Palestinian cause and the status of Jerusalem to the Muslim world and once again rejected the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The declaration also declared "determination to take the appropriate political, economic and other measures" against countries which follow the U.S.' suit in recognizing the holy city as the Israeli capital and move their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Speaking at the beginning of the summit, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the Muslim world to unite against Israeli attacks on Palestinian at the OIC Summit on Jerusalem in Istanbul.

In his opening address during the ongoing extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Erdogan said: "I will say openly and clearly that what Israel is doing is banditry, brutality and state terror."

"To take action for Palestinians massacred by Israeli bandits is to show the whole world that humanity is not dead," Erdogan said.

The Turkish president described Israel's killing of Palestinians as "thuggery, atrocity and state terror," and said the US' recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital would inevitably haunt it.

"There is no difference between the atrocity faced by the Jewish people in Europe 75 years ago and the brutality that our Gaza brothers are subjected to," he said.

"Muslims will not take even one step back from their claims in the East Jerusalem."

Monday's protests in Gaza coincided with Israel's 70th anniversary - an event Palestinians refer to as Nakba or the "Catastrophe" - and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since the mass Gaza rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian protesters have been martyred by Israeli army gunfire.

Last week, the Israeli government claimed that the ongoing protests constitute a "state of war" in which international humanitarian law does not apply.

For his part, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said the US had become "part of the problem and not the solution" and called the relocation of the embassy "an act of aggression against the Islamic nation, against Muslims and Christians".

Jordanian King Abdullah II urged for the adoption of urgent measures to back "the resistance of Palestinians", while Iranian President Hasan Rouhani called for economic and political measures against the US and Israel.

Rouhani slammed Israel's recent massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds, and offered a number of proposals on how to put an end to such hostile policies.

"In order to assist the Palestinian nation and counter the destructive decision by [US President Donald] Trump, we call on Muslim governments and freedom-seeking nations in the world to revise their political, economic and commercial ties with the US administration, and also cut all their relations with the occupying Zionist regime [of Israel] and boycott the products and companies of the Zionists," Rouhani said.

At least 62 Palestinians were killed and more than 2,700 others wounded near the Gaza fence on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem al-Quds.

The occupied territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Trump on December 6, 2017, announced Washington's recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's "capital" and said the United States would move the US embassy to the city.

Rouhani also offered five other suggestions, namely examination of the "illegal" relocation of the US embassy and Israel's recent crimes in Gaza at a UN General Assembly meeting, formation of an OIC expert group to formulate the required strategies, delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestine, dismantling of Israel's nuclear weapons and inclusion of the International Quds Day in the official calendars of all Islamic countries.

Speaking at the conference, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said the Palestinian cause had "become a symbol for oppressed peoples everywhere" and condemned Israel for "brutal massacre" of peaceful demonstrators.

"Who among us does not know the declared siege forced on Gaza Strip and collective punishment against its population?" the emir said.

"The Gaza Strip has been transformed into a large concentration camp for millions of people who are deprived of their most basic rights to travel, education, work and medical treatment.

"When their sons take arms they are called terrorists, and when they stage peaceful demonstrations they are called extremists, and are shot dead with live ammunition."

For his part, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said the US had become "part of the problem and not the solution" and called the relocation of the embassy "an act of aggression against the Islamic nation, against Muslims and Christians".

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also expressed solidarity with Palestinians, saying that Pakistan denounces the shifting of US embassy to Jerusalem.