Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopts Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan
Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopts Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan
M.U.H
08/03/202519
Foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) convene an extraordinary session on Gaza in Saudi Arabia's city of Jeddah on Friday, rejecting Trump's Gaza takeover plan and instead adopting an Egyptian proposal for post-war reconstruction in the strip.
Foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have held an extraordinary session in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where they endorsed an Egyptian-proposed plan for Gaza reconstruction that runs counter to U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial proposal to take over the territory and displace its residents.
The OIC foreign ministers met on Friday at the proposal of Iran, as fears have grown over the resumption of hostilities in Gaza after Israel stopped all humanitarian aid into the besieged territory last weekend to put pressure on Hamas to accept the extension of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, instead of entering talks on the second phase that calls for a complete halt to hostilities and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
In their final resolution, the foreign ministers of the Muslim countries “strongly” rejected and “unequivocally” confronted the plans “aimed at displacing the Palestinian people individually or collectively, inside or outside their land, or forced displacement, exile or deportation in any form, under any circumstance or justification, as ethnic cleansing, a grave violation of international law and a crime against humanity,” according to the text of the resolution published on the official website of the OIC.
The ministers also condemned “the policies of starvation and scorched earth aimed at forcing the Palestinian people to leave their land, and rejects any Israeli attempts to change the demographic composition of the Palestinian Territory.”
The OIC adopted Egypt’s plan on the early recovery and reconstruction of Gaza, which would also allow the 2.1 million Palestinians living there to remain in their homeland. The organization urged the international community to swiftly provide the necessary support for the plan which the ministers adopted three days after it was endorsed at an Arab League summit in Cairo.
The OIC emphasized that all those efforts “run in parallel with the initiation of a political process and a perspective for a lasting and just solution, aiming at achieving the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people to establish their own state and live in peace and security.”
The organization meanwhile expressed support for a “two-state” solution to the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi of Iran, who addressed the Friday meeting, declared reservations about a number of issues in the resolution said Iran believed that “one democratic state” representing all the original inhabitants of Palestine was the only viable solution to the conflict.
“With due respect to the views of some brotherly countries on the two-state solution, the Islamic Republic of Iran maintains its view that this solution will not lead to the realization of the right of the Palestinian people,” he added.
Araqchi also strongly rejected and condemned “the recent plan by the U.S. Administration to forcibly relocate the population of Gaza and assert control over their land as a clear violation of international law.”
Trump unveiled his plan early last month during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington D.C., and has ever since doubled down on his proposal despite global outrage.
The United States and Israel have also rejected the Arab initiative for the post-war reconstruction in Gaza, which is an alternative to Trump’s plan for the U.S. to take over the strip and permanently resettle its population.
