Saudis, allies stay away from OIC summit on Palestine

Ankara: Key Arab rulers stayed away from the extra ordinary summit of 57 member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called by Turkey, in historic city of Istanbul, to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and to denounce the relocation of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem, as well as the Israeli attacks that killed over 60 civilians in protests on May 14.

Notable among them were Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi, rulers of UAE and Bahrain all close allies of Saudi Arabia.

Representatives from more than 40 countries, including presidents, prime ministers and other high level officials took part in the event.

While there has been widespread criticism of Trump's Jerusalem decision, questions remain of whether anger over the move can overcome political divisions within the Muslim world, in particular, among Arab leaders.

"The Arab world cannot take a unified stance without the consent of Saudi Arabia or Egypt," according to the Hurriyet daily news columnist Barcin Yinanc. "The House of Saud, as well as Egypt's current military ruler, both need U.S. support to maintain power and also to stand against Iran, which they see as gaining predominance with its advances in Iraq and Syria," Yinanc said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had carried out hectic phone diplomacy to make the OIC summit a successful one with high-level participation.

The 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.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Afghan President Ashraf Gani and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi were prominent leaders present at the summit.

During the conference held in the absence of the Saudi King and PA president, Jordanian King Abdullah II sat beside Qatari Emir Tamim bin Ahmed al-Thani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Analysts believe that the move indicates Jordan's different stance with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain which are rapidly moving towards normalization of ties with Israel.

Analysts say absence of Saudi Arabia was a shocking response given that Jerusalem is supposed to be one of the most important issues for Arabs and Muslims.

Riyadh -- which appears to have softened its stance on Israel as the influence of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has grown -- and its allies fear alienating the United States with tough measures against Tel Aviv.

Saudi's chief foreign policy preoccupation, shared with Israel, is ensuring US backing to contain Iran which both Riyadh and the Jewish state see as the main threat to their dominance in the region.

Foreign Minister Cavusoglu also said some OIC member states' failure to show enough support for the Palestinian cause "upsets us".

Meanwhile summit meet went ahead and condemned "savage crimes" committed by Israel 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."

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.

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.

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

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.

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".