Communique adopted at the Emergency Meet of the EC of OIC on 26 Feb

OIC Secretariat

26 February 2026, (9 Ramadan 1447 AH) - The Emergency Open-Ended Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the level of Foreign Ministers, held at the OIC General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah on February 26, 2026 (corresponding to Ramadan 9, 1447 AH), at the request of the State of Palestine, to address the announcement by Israel, the occupying power, to impose an illegal reality, expand colonial settlement and deepen annexation and seizure policies in order to alter the status and character of the occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank, including Al-Quds Al-Shareef, which is “considered an extension of the genocidal war perpetrated in the Gaza Strip and a continuation of the systematic and widespread policies of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing,”

The Executive Committee of the OIC met on 26 February to address the decisions of the Israeli occupation authorities aimed at promoting settlement and annexing the West Bank

Reaffirming the principles and objectives of the Charter of the OIC and its resolutions, particularly those concerning the centrality of the Palestinian cause and Al-Quds Al-Shareef and its holy sites to the Islamic Ummah;

Invoking the resolutions adopted by successive sessions of the Islamic Summit and the Council of Foreign Ministers regarding the Palestinian cause and Al-Quds Al-Shareef;

Given the historical, moral, and legal responsibility of the Islamic Ummah and its duty of full solidarity with the State of Palestine and its people;

Guided by the principles and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations, notably the principle of the inadmissibility of the forcible seizure of territories belonging to others;

Recalling relevant United Nations resolutions and the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on 19 July 2024 concerning the nature of the illegal Israeli occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory and the legal consequences for Israel, the United Nations, and third parties;

Expressing its gratitude and appreciation to all OIC Member States for their attention, diligence, and support for the process of Islamic solidarity and joint action, and commending their steadfast positions on the Palestinian cause and their continued support for the rights of the Palestinian people;

Reaffirming its principled support for the Palestinian people and their legitimate leadership, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization, in their pursuit of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent and sovereign State of Palestine within the borders of June 4, 1967, with Al-Quds Al-Shareef as its capital, and the right of return for refugees in accordance with United Nations Resolution 194, emphasizing the principle of the unity and integrity of the Palestinian territory, and that the West Bank, including East Al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip constitute one single, indivisible geographical and political unit for one people;

Rejecting and strongly condemning the recent hostile decisions and measures of the illegal Israeli occupying power aimed at expanding Israeli control and deepening annexation policies in the West Bank, including Al-Quds Al-Shareef, considering these null and void decisions that must be rescinded, and  affirming in this regard its rejection of any form of annexation.

Condemning and rejecting the colonial policies, practices, and schemes of the Israeli occupying power in the occupied Palestinian territory, and all attempts to alter the geographic and demographic composition, character, and status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including Al-Quds Al-Shareef, particularly the construction and expansion of settlements, the transfer of Israeli settlers, the confiscation and annexation of land, and the forced transfer and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions, considering them war crimes that endanger international peace and security and contribute to instability in the Middle East region and the world at large;

1. Reaffirms the centrality of the question of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Shareef to the entire Islamic ummah, and the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic identity of occupied East Al-Quds, and the need to articulate a unified position of the Islamic Ummah to defend the sanctity of the Islamic and Christian holy sites therein, and that the Palestinian cause is like all just causes of peoples struggling to be free from colonialism and to gain their rights,

2. Affirms the need to compel Israel, the occupying power, to implement a comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, abide by the implementation of the US President Trump’s plan, move on to the second phase of the plan, the full withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, facilitate the return of displaced persons to their homes, and for the State of Palestine to assume its full responsibility, with Arab, Islamic, and international support, to commit to full and normal opening of all crossings with the Gaza Strip, to facilitate the recovery and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the adequate and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid to all parts of the Gaza Strip. The Meeting further stresses the responsibility of Member States and the international community to address and halt grave crimes and to fully comply with international law, the precautionary measures ordered by the International Court of Justice, and the relevant Security Council resolutions.

3. Calls upon the President Trump of the United States of America to fulfill his pledges to Arab and Islamic states to prevent settlement activity, the annexation of the occupied West Bank, and forced displacement. Calls for the implementation of President Trump’s plan, the UN Security Council Resolution 2803, the New York Declaration and its annex, and reaffirms the content of the plan on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state, with the aim to the achieve peace, stability, and security based on the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

4 Declares its absolute rejection and strong condemnation of the recent hostile decisions and measures taken by the illegal Israeli occupation authority, including the announcement by the so-called Israeli "Cabinet" of illegal decisions aimed at imposing a colonial settlement reality in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the West Bank, including Al-Quds Al-Shareef, and emphasizes that these decisions are null and void and must be rescinded immediately. In this regard, the Meeting affirms its rejection of any form of annexation, and considers this dangerous escalation a blatant new attack on the historical and legal rights of the Palestinian people, and a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, the principles of international law, and relevant United Nations resolutions, including resolutions 181 (1947), 242 (1967), 252 (1968), 338 (1973), 425 (1978), 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980), 681 (1990), 1073 (1996), 1397 (2002), 1435 (2002), and 1515 (2003), including Security Council resolution 2334 (2016);

5 Condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing Israeli occupation attacks on the Ibrahimi Mosque, including attempts to divide it,  prevent access to it, and undermine the right of worship, in addition to the illegal and dangerous Israeli occupation plans and practices to transfer the authority to manage and supervise the Ibrahimi Mosque from the Palestinian Ministry of Wakf and Religious Affairs and Al-Khalil Municipality to an illegal settlement council so-called "the Jewish Religious Council" in the Kiryat Arba settlement, and attempts to alter its unique historical, cultural, and religious features and status. The Meeting also affirms that this constitutes a flagrant violation of United Nations and UNESCO resolutions and international agreements stipulating the protection of cultural, religious, and civil rights and properties, especially during armed conflict;

6 Warns against the Israeli approach contrary to security, stability, and peace in the region, to the resolutions of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and to the historical and legal rights of the Palestinian people, and which is pushing the region toward a religious war with dire consequences that will negatively impact international peace and security;

7 Condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation government’s attempts to implement the colonial settlement plan known as E1 and to displace the Palestinian people from their holy city, to build thousands of settlement units in and around occupied Al-Quds, isolating it from its Palestinian surroundings, and to further divide the West Bank into isolated enclaves and cantons. The Meeting rejects all attempts to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Al-Quds Al-Shareef, the current legal status, and the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, including the Haram al-Sharif, and the Islamic and Christian holy sites therein.

8 Affirms that the Al-Aqsa Mosque/Haram al-Shareef, with its entire area of 144,000 square meters, is a place of worship exclusively for Muslims, under the custodianship of His Majesty King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein, Custodian of the Islamic and Christian Holy Sites, and that the Al-Quds Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf, is the sole legitimate authority with jurisdiction over the administration, maintenance, and regulation of entry to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, within the framework of the historical Hashemite custodianship of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Al-Quds, and affirms the role of Al-Quds Committee, chaired by His Majesty King Mohammed VI of the Kingdom of Morocco, and commends the efforts of its affiliated Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency.

9 Affirms that any religious or ideological claims, including those that distort and falsify historical facts and the legal and fundamental rights of the Palestinian people and justify the seizure of territories of states in the Middle East or of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Al-Quds Al-Shareef, cannot create a legal or sovereign right. They violate the charter of the United Nations and the established principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force and of respect for the sovereignty, political independence, unity, and territorial integrity of states. The Meeting also emphasizes that the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Al-Quds, remains an occupied territory under international law, United Nations resolutions, and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of July 19, 2024.  It strongly condemns the provocative statements made by the American ambassador to the Israeli occupation authority, Mike Huckabee, accepting that Israel, the occupying authority, can exercise control over the territories of Arab states, including the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Al-Quds. It affirms that the statements lack any legal or historical basis and can neither change the legal status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory nor undermine the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people or the sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and demographic configuration of Arab and Islamic states and states in the region.  

10 Condemns the announcement by the United States Embassy in Occupied Jerusalem regarding the issuance of visas and the provision of other consular services to settlers residing in illegal settlements, considering such measures to be in clear breach of established principles of international law and in violation of relevant international legal instruments, including the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and its Optional Protocol. It further stresses that such actions serve to entrench the unlawful settlement enterprise and prejudice the legal status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

11 Condemns the ongoing terrorist crimes of settlers against unarmed Palestinian civilians, their property, and places of worship, under the protection of the Israeli occupation government and army, and calls upon the international community to provide international protection for the Palestinian people in the face of these racist crimes, to place these terrorists on the national terrorism lists of the OIC Member States as well as on international terrorism lists, preventing their movement, freezing their accounts and assets, and working with all parties to ensure the disarmament of settlers in implementation of Security Council Resolution 904.

12 Holds the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the consequences of its colonial policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the dangerous decisions that deliberately undermine international efforts to achieve a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution, destroy the foundations of peace, and push the entire region towards further violence and instability;

13 Resolves to strongly challenge the dangerous criminal and hostile measures, practices, policies, decisions, laws, and plans of the Israeli occupation, and to take all possible political and legal measures and steps, including action before the Security Council, the UN General Assembly, international courts, and any other relevant international organizations and bodies, to counter this colonial and expansionist policy;

14 Calls upon the international community, particularly the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, to assume its responsibilities, including rejecting and condemning illegal Israeli practices and decisions, and confronting them by compelling Israel, the occupying power, to cease all its illegal measures, which are null and void and have no legal effect under international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, to assert the non-recognition and non-acceptance of any changes to the pre-1967 borders/lines, including those relating to the city of Al-Quds, and to reconsider the withdrawal of Israel’s membership in the United Nations, as it contradicts the requirements of membership and has fundamentally failed to fulfill the obligations of obtaining this membership, namely the implementation of United Nations Resolutions 181 and 194, which were a condition for Israel’s admission to the international organization.

15 Calls upon Member States and the international community, in this regard, to take all deterrent and punitive measures and exert pressure to confront the Israeli occupation and its colonial practices which undermine the rules of international law and destabilize the foundations of the law-based international order, by taking all measures to that end, particularly by severing all relations with Israel, the occupying power, including   diplomatic, economic, trade, cultural, and parliamentary relations which perpetuate the Israeli occupation and its colonial system, and calls upon them to leverage their international relations to impose economic and political sanctions to end its occupation of the Palestinian territory, implement its legal obligations and relevant United Nations resolutions, withdraw completely, fully, and unconditionally from the Palestinian territory occupied since June 4, 1967, recognize the State of Palestine, and enable the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination;

16 Rejects categorically any attempts to fragment Palestinian territory or separate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, including East Al-Quds, and affirms the political and geographical unity of the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders. It also supports the State of Palestine in assuming its full responsibilities over all its territory, based on adherence to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and supports its political program and international obligations, and the principle of one people, one regime, one law, and one legitimate armed force.

17 Condemns in the strongest terms the serious and repeated attacks and violations perpetrated by Israel, the occupying power, against all international, UN, humanitarian, and relief organizations operating in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which operates in the West Bank, including Al-Quds Al-Shareef, and the Gaza Strip. These attacks include targeting UNRWA headquarters and staff, obstructing its work, preventing its humanitarian access, and imposing illegal restrictions on its activities, in flagrant violation of international law.

18 Condemns the decisions, legislations, and practices of the Israeli occupation against UNRWA, including the demolition and closure of its headquarters and schools, and attempts to dismantle it, in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Al-Quds Al-Shareef, and calls for securing the necessary political, legal, and financial support for UNRWA and its activities in a sufficient and sustainable manner to enable it continue to fulfill its mandate and role in its five areas of operation towards Palestinian refugees.

19 Strongly condemns Israel, the colonial occupying power, for continuing its efforts to pass a law to execute Palestinian prisoners, and for continuing its policy of arbitrary arrest, detention, and torture. It affirms the illegality of the racist Israeli judicial system, and denounces the withholding of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs in the so-called “cemeteries of numbers,” considering it an immoral and illegal crime. The Meeting also calls for the perpetrators of violations and crimes to be prosecuted, including politicians, security officials, administrators, and members of the Cabinet and Knesset who vote in favor of racist decisions and laws hostile to the Palestinian people and their rights, and for severing relations with them.

20 Condemns the Israeli decision to prevent the Red Cross from visiting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers, considering it a flagrant violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, and calls for the Red Cross to be enabled to carry out its duties in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Al-Quds;

21 Supports and endorses the efforts and steps taken by the State of Palestine to hold Israel, the occupying power, accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people, and calls upon Member States to provide all forms of political, legal, technical, and material support necessary to ensure the success of these efforts in the relevant international bodies;

22 Affirms that peace and security in the Middle East, as a strategic choice, which will only be achieved with the end of the illegal Israeli occupation, the complete withdrawal from the territory of the State of Palestine occupied since 1967, including the City of Al-Quds Al-Shareef, in accordance with the principles of international law, relevant resolutions of international legitimacy, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, the Arab Peace Initiative in its entirety and in its natural sequence as presented at the Arab Summit in Beirut in 2002, and the removal of the effects of the occupation and the provision of reparations;

23 Applauds and supports the efforts of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State solution, under the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Chair of the Arab-Islamic Joint Committee on Gaza, the European Union and the Kingdom of Norway. Calls for active participation in the implementation of the New York Declaration and its annex adopted by the International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and Implementation of the Two-State Solution under the co-chairmanship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of France.

24 Calls upon the international community, in particular the United Nations, the Security Council, and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to provide international protection for the Palestinian people against Israeli aggression, in accordance with international law, relevant resolutions of international legitimacy, and relevant international and regional agreements and treaties, and resolves to mobilize all necessary support for Member States to this end.

25 Tasks the Secretary-General with following up on the implementation of this statement and submitting a report thereon to the next meeting of Foreign Ministers.