OIC Reaffirms Rights of Palestinian People on 78th Nakba Anniv

Al-Quds moque in Jerusalem.

The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) commemorates, on May 15 of each year, the Nakba that befell the Palestinian people in 1948 as a result of the declaration of the establishment of Israel, the occupying power, and the crimes of organized terrorism, genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and the deliberate destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages and cities, as well as the confiscation of the lands and properties of the indigenous Palestinian people.

The OIC General Secretariat warns of the grave consequences of this ongoing Nakba, whose chapters are renewed throughout the year, through the daily crimes of organized terrorism, colonial settlement, the Judaization of Al-Quds (Jerusalem), the targeting of holy sites and attempts to alter their historical and legal status, systematic extermination, continuous military aggression, the withholding of tax revenues, and other Israeli policies aimed at erasing the Palestinian people’s identity and presence on their land and denying their legitimate rights.

The Nakba has been a catastrophe for the Palestinian people. The General Secretariat reiterates that this painful memory remains vivid in the individual and collective consciousness of the Islamic world and the world at large. It considers it a dark stain on the human conscience, a setback for the values of freedom and justice, and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and its relevant resolutions.

On this occasion, the General Secretariat also reaffirms the right of Palestinian refugees to return and receive compensation in accordance with UN Resolution 194. It categorically rejects any positions, decisions, or measures targeting UNRWA as part of an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue. It renews its call upon the international community to provide political, legal, and financial support to this UN agency.

The General Secretariat renews its call to the international community to assume its responsibilities towards achieving international justice, ending the Israeli occupation and settlement, providing international protection for the Palestinian people, strengthening their steadfastness on their land, and enabling them to obtain their legitimate and inalienable rights, foremost among which is their right to self-determination, return, and the establishment of their independent state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital. – OIC News