TEHRAN (Iran News) An extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers to address a U.S.-Israeli plot to forcibly displace the people of Gaza will be held in the coming weeks at Iran’s proposal, according to a source in the Foreign Ministry.

The informed source told IRNA on Wednesday that Tehran’s proposal, officially conveyed in a letter from Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to the OIC secretary general, has been widely welcomed by Islamic nations, with the session likely to be held by early March.

If finalized, the meeting will bring together OIC foreign ministers to discuss measures against a scheme introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip forcefully.

In recent days, Araghchi has engaged in extensive diplomatic efforts, holding consultations with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Gambia – the current chair of the OIC. He has also discussed the matter with the OIC Secretary-General.

The Iranian foreign minister on Saturday condemned the “dangerous” joint U.S.-Israeli conspiracy and called for an extraordinary OIC meeting to address the issue.

“The Organization of Islamic Cooperation must take a decisive and effective decision as soon as possible by holding an extraordinary meeting with the presence of the foreign ministers of the member states to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” he said in a phone call with OIC Secretary-General Hussein Ibrahim Taha.

Last Tuesday, Trump proposed that the U.S. take “ownership” of the Gaza Strip and turn it into a hub of tourism, a move that would permanently displace the Palestinian inhabitants of the war-torn territory. “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” the real estate investor-turned-president said in a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. “We’ll own it and be responsible” for clearing it out and rebuilding it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” The U.S. president further insisted that Palestinians in Gaza “have no alternative” other than to flee the coastal territory.

The remarks sparked a wave of global outrage, even from Washington’s allies in West Asia. Hundreds of protesters also gathered outside the White House after the brazen comments, warning that the Palestinian territory is “not for sale.” Despite the backlash, Trump has repeated his “proposal” several times since then.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has rejected Palestine plan designated by US President Donald Trump as the so-called “deal of the century” on the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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In comments on Sunday, Mousavi provided a description of the Saudi government’s move to prevent Iran from participating in the OIC meeting in Jeddah.

“Following the US president’s unveiling of the Zionist plan known as ‘deal of the century’, it was decided – at the suggestion of the Palestinian National Authority and at the invitation of secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation – that an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee of the OIC would be held at the level of foreign ministers of the Member States on Monday, February 3, 2020, at the headquarters of the OIC secretariat in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah in order to examine that plan and adopt stances on it.

“Although the secretary-general of the OIC had invited the Islamic Republic of Iran as an active member of the Organization to take part in the Jeddah meeting, the Saudi government – which hosts the Organization’s secretariat in Jeddah – violated the definite commitments as the government hosting this international Organization as well as the plain principles stipulated in the modus operandi of such organizations, such as the necessity of ensuring the free and unrestricted participation of the Member States in all activities of the Organization, and denied the Islamic Republic of Iran’s delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari visa until the final hours before the meeting,” Mousavi added.

“The trend in excluding the delegations representing certain Member States, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, from the OIC’s meetings and conferences held in Jeddah at the OIC secretariat has been intensified by Saudi Arabia over the past months,” the Foreign Ministry’s website quoted him as saying.

“Such an approach adopted by the Saudi government has been deplored by a number of the Member States, which have accused that country (Saudi Arabia) of abusing the privilege of hosting this international Organization and of improper exploitation of the OIC to fulfill its own political interests and objectives,” the Iranian spokesman added.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs submits a formal note of protest to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s secretariat, the contents of which will be also distributed among the Organization’s Member States, highlights Saudi Arabia’s abuse of hosting the Organization’s headquarters in order to obstruct the process of its activities, including by restricting the free participation of the Member States in the Organization’s meetings in Jeddah, particularly on a major subject like Palestine, and declares that the competence of this regime (Saudi Arabia) to continue playing host to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s headquarters has been seriously questioned,” he concluded.

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Naftali Bennett, right-wing Israeli minister of military affairs, said on Sunday that the new settlement, which will be constructed at the site of a wholesale market complex, will “double” the number of settlers in al-Khalil. Iran News covers the report.

Under the construction project, the old market stalls will be demolished to make way for new shops and residential buildings.

Currently, around 800 settlers live in al-Khalil guarded by hundreds of Israeli soldiers. The Israeli settlers are surrounded by some 200,000 Palestinians.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, OIC Secretary-General Yusuf bin Ahmed al-Uthaymeen said the Israeli decision “is a flagrant breach of the international law, Geneva Accord, and relevant UN resolutions and undermines peace efforts.”

He also urged the international community and the UN Security Council to take “resolute action” towards ending the Tel Aviv regime’s settlement policies.

Earlier, Saeb Erekat, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) secretary-general, said the project was the “first tangible result of the US decision to legitimize colonization.”

He was referring to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement last month that the establishment of settlements in the occupied West Bank “is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

Additionally, the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement said the new settlement project was the result of “growing American support” for Israel, warning that it will “solidify the occupation’s policy of aggression on Palestinian lands.”

The Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now also condemned the al-Khalil settlement plan as an addition to the “ugliest face of Israel’s control in the occupied territories.”

“In order to maintain the presence of 800 settlers among a quarter of a million Palestinians, entire streets in Hebron are closed to Palestinians, denying them freedom of movement,” it said in a statement.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Emboldened by US President Donald Trump’s all-out support, Israel has stepped up its settlement construction activities in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounced settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”

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Quoting high-ranking diplomatic participants in the OIC summit, Independent Arabia announced on Thursday that there is a dispute over the final statement at Mecca summit.

“Some of the participating countries have called for the modification and amendment of some parts of the Palestinian issue and the position of this statement towards Iran,” the source said.

Persian Gulf and Arab leaders convened at two emergency summits on May 30 in Mecca, hosted by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman. The Saudi foreign ministry cited reasons for the summits as “sabotage attacks” on four oil tankers, including two belonging to Saudi Arabia, off the coast of Fujairah in the UAE, as well as the retaliatory drone strikes carried out by Yemeni army forces on two major oil pumping stations in the Kingdom. The statement leveled unfounded accusaitons against Iran on both accounts.

Meanwhile, Iraq, with close ties with neighboring Iran as well as the US, objected to the communiqué, with President Barham Salih arguing that rising tensions with Iran could cause war, and voicing hope that Iran’s security would not be targeted.

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The OIC considers the move by the US President Donald Trump as legitimizing the occupation of the Zionist regime in Syria’s Golan and giving Syria’s territory to occupiers, the letter adds.

The OIC Member States have also stressed that the Israeli regime must abide by the resolutions of the UN General Assembly, Security Council, and Human Rights Council, and withdraw from all occupied Arab territories, such as Syria’s Golan and East Jerusalem.

On March 25, following a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House, Trump signed a proclamation, formally recognizing Israel’s “sovereignty” over Golan. The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in a statement, called the US decision a “blatant attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Syria.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War and later occupied it in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

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Referring to the last day of the ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Iran will never give up its historical rights to Abu Musa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs.

According to the official, the UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan presented a text as his country’s statement at the final day of the meeting, however, the statement was passed without receiving others’ comments.

The Emirati minister’s statement was criticized by Iranian and Pakistani delegations, he added.

Despite the complaints filed by Iran and other delegations, the UAE Foreign Minister tended to impose his ambitious attitudes on the meeting by misusing its own particular position as the host of the conference and passed the statement, Qasemi noted.

Right after the baseless allegations over the trio islands were made by the UAE, the Iranian delegation present at the event lodged its protest promptly and left the meeting.

Ghasemi noted that the Emiratis’ claims created chaos in the meeting, making other delegations leave to walk out. This showed the UAE’s failure to gain its illegitimate demands, he added.

The Iranian official went on to say that the statement presented by the UAE in OIC’s final day is completely invalid.

Earlier on the day, Ghasemi rejected another accusation that Iran is interfering in the internal affairs of other states and is supporting, financing and arming terrorist groups.

“Unfortunately, certain countries have gotten used to repeating such claims in order to cover up the damage that their policies have imposed on the Muslim world,” Ghasemi said.

The 46th session of the Council of OIC Foreign Ministers in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

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