Amir calls for lasting solution to Palestine issue

Istanbul: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday addressed the opening session of the Emergency Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Palestine.

H H the Amir said that without a just solution to the cause of Palestine and redressing  its people, this 70 year old bloodshed cannot be stopped.

He said the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories needs sincere positions and political will to take meaningful steps to eliminate the occupation. “This is a prelude to any just solution.”

H H the Amir also met with President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sideline of the summit.

Amir arriving in Istanbul to participate in the extraordinary OIC summit. Also seen is Qatar’s Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi.

The meeting, dealt with the strategic bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries and means to further deepen and enhance these relations. H H the Amir and President Erdogan also exchanged views on the current regional and international issues, especially the serious developments in Palestine.

In his speech, H H the Amir said that the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip must be stopped by a political decision, and a just solution to the Palestinian question must be imposed as the last case of colonialism that continues to be a cause of concern for  the world.

“There is an international consensus that transcend political and ideological differences on the need to put an end to the injustice inflicted upon  the Palestinian people. The way to this is through a historic settlement establishing  a Palestinian State in the territories occupied in 1967 —  that  is to say 22 percent of the historic land of Palestine — with Jerusalem as its capital. There is an international consensus  that  the Israeli expansionist policies, in terms of the construction of settlements and the Judaization of Jerusalem,  are illegal  and constitute an obstacle in the way of achieving this historic settlement.”

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with leaders and representatives of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states at an extraordinary meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday.

But, H H the Amir said, the international community stands helpless in front of Israel’s rejection of this consensus and takes no steps vis-à-vis such intransigence, despite its danger to regional and international security.

“This issue must remain a matter of consensus in our organization, and we should not, in any case, subject it to differences between our States. “The issue of Palestine is still an open wound in the consciousness and memory of peoples, and disregarding that by  some regimes does not change this fact.

“This cause has become a symbol for the oppressed peoples everywhere,” H H the Amir said, adding that the recent massacre perpetrated against peaceful demonstrators deepens the sense of injustice and inactivity of international legitimacy.

“But on the other hand, it proves that a people who has been patient, struggling and making sacrifices for 70 years is a vivid people, whose cause cannot be liquidated without achieving justice.”

Amir being received by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul.

H H the Amir further said that as a result of the blockade, 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.”

He appreciated the countries that clearly condemned the massacre. HH the Amir said that what is required is to take a position to be followed by practical steps.

“Who among us does not know the declared siege forced on Gaza Strip and collective punishment against its population We also know that reports of commissions of inquiry may accumulate on shelves, as happened repeatedly in the past, if there is no international will to take real and effective steps.” A draft summit communique called for “international protection for the Palestinian people” and condemned Israel’s “criminal” actions against “unarmed civilians”. The text also accused the US administration of “encouraging the crimes of Israel”.