Middle East Desk Report
Riyadh: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday rejected United States President Donald Trump’s plan for the Middle East, calling on its 57 member states not to help implement it.
The pan-Islamic body, which represents more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, “rejects this US-Israeli plan, as it does not meet the minimum aspirations and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and contradicts the terms of reference of the peace process,” it said in a statement.
It called on “all member states not (to) deal with this plan or cooperate with the US Administration efforts to enforce it in any way or form”.
Last week, Trump had confounded predictions and proposed a “two-state” solution to the decades-long conflict, which envisages Israel and a future Palestinian state living alongside each other, with conditions.
The plan would see a Palestinian state with its capital in “eastern Jerusalem”, though in an area cut off from much of the city by an Israeli military barrier.
The plan unveiled by Trump would allow the Palestinians to establish a capital on the outskirts of east Jerusalem but would leave most of the city under Israeli control. It also envisages a Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank, but would allow Israel to annex its settlements in the occupied territory.
The plan was rejected by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who called it a “slap of the century” and promised to “take it to the dustbin of history”.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Authority cut off all ties with the US and Israel including those relating to security.
The plan prompted a lukewarm response from Europe and the United Nations, and a furious rebuke from key Muslim countries who denounced it as a betrayal of the Palestinians. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambasted the plan as “absolutely unacceptable”, while Pakistan called for a “a two-state solution, as enshrined in the relevant Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions”.
The Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo said the plan would not lead to a comprehensive and just peace, and that the League would not cooperate with the US in implementing it.
