CAIRO (Reuters) - The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Mecca refused to accept any decision to change legal and demographic status of Syria’s Golan Heights, especially the U.S. decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory, the summit’s final statement said.

Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Himani Sarkar </s> ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan returned home Saturday after concluding his visit to Saudi Arabia where he represented the country at the 14th summit of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held in Makkah.

During his stay, the Prime Minister addressed the OIC forum and called for joint efforts by Muslim leaders against challenges including Islamophobia and to counter the narrative of ‘Islamic terrorism’.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has renewed its commitment to the Palestinian cause saying that it opposes all illegal Israeli measures aimed at changing facts in occupied Palestinian territories including Jerusalem, and undermining the two-state solution.

The OIC Summit in Makkah in its final statement in Makkah today condemned any position adopted by an international body that supports prolonging occupation of Palestinian territories, including a U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

It urged member countries to take appropriate measures against countries that move their embassies to Jerusalem.

The OIC also refused to accept any proposal for peaceful settlement that did not accord with Palestinians’ legitimate inalienable rights.

The summit also condemned the inhumane situation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and asked it to halt the violence.

It urged the United Sates to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The OIC emphasized that the subversive terrorist acts in the Gulf region pose a serious threat to security of navigation and world energy supplies. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said it condemns any position adopted by an international body that supports prolonging occupation of Palestinian territories, including a U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The OIC summit in Mecca said in its final statement on Saturday that it opposes all illegal Israeli measures aimed at changing facts in occupied Palestinian territories including Jerusalem, and undermining the two-state solution.

It urged member countries to take “appropriate measures” against countries that move their embassies to Jerusalem.

The OIC also refused to accept any proposal for peaceful settlement that did not accord with Palestinians’ legitimate inalienable rights, the final statement said.

The OIC stressed the importance of amassing support for the budget of the Palestinian government to continue its work.

The OIC summit also urged the United Sates to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - A summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned any position adopted by an international body that supports prolonging occupation, including a U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, it said on Saturday.

The Mecca summit also refused all illegal Israeli measures aimed at changing facts in occupied Palestinian territories including Jerusalem, and undermining the two-state solution, it said in a statement.

The summit urged member countries to take “appropriate measures” against countries that move their embassies to Jerusalem, it added.

The summit refused any proposal for peaceful settlement that did not accord with Palestinians’ legitimate inalienable rights, the statement said. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit condemned the inhumane situation of Rohingya Muslims, urging a halt to violence, it said in a statement on Saturday.

The summit in Mecca also stressed that Myanmar’s government has the responsibility to protect its citizens, the statement added. </s> A Saudi-hosted Islamic summit yesterday threw its support behind Palestinians ahead of a US-led peace plan suspected to be skewed in favour of Israel, as Muslim states rallied around Saudi Arabia over tensions with Iran.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, the third and final Iran-focused summit in the holy city of Makkah this week, denounced controversial US moves to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The summit of the 57-member bloc, marked by the notable absence of Iranian and Turkish leaders, called for a “boycott” of countries that have opened diplomatic missions in the city.

Trump broke with decades of bipartisan policy to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017.

The OIC’s statement comes as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner prepares to roll out economic aspects of his long-awaited Middle East peace plan at a conference in Bahrain later this month.

The plan, which has been heavily talked up by Trump and dubbed his “deal of the century”, has already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say the president’s policies have shown him to be overwhelmingly biased in favour of Israel. The Palestinians see the eastern part of the disputed city as the capital of their future state.

Saudi King Salman told leaders of the OIC countries gathered at the summit: “The Palestinian cause is the cornerstone of the works of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is the focus of our attention until the brotherly Palestinian people get all their legitimate rights.

“We reaffirm our unequivocal rejection of any measures that would prejudice the historical and legal status of Quds (Jerusalem).”

OIC summit condemned the inhumane situation of Rohingya Muslims, urging a halt to violence. The summit in Mecca also stressed that Myanmar’s government has the responsibility to protect its citizens, the statement added.

The OIC also backed Saudi Arabia in escalating tensions with Iran, as King Salman warned that “terrorist” attacks in the Gulf region could imperil global energy supplies.

Meanwhile, the head of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah warned on that if there was a war against Iran the whole Middle East region would “erupt”, amid escalating US-Iranian tensions. </s> The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit condemned the inhumane situation of Rohingya Muslims, urging a halt to violence, it said in a statement on Saturday.

Any unauthorised use or reproduction of bdnews24.com content for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited and constitutes copyright infringement liable to legal action. </s> OIC talks also come out in favor of Saudi Arabia amid Iran tensions

A Saudi-hosted Islamic summit on Saturday threw its support behind Palestinians ahead of a U.S.-led peace plan suspected to be skewed in favor of Israel, as Muslim nations rallied around Saudi Arabia over tensions with Iran.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) talks, the third and final Iran-focused summit in the holy city of Mecca this week, denounced the controversial U.S. move to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The summit of the 57-member state body, marked by the notable absence of Iran and Turkey’s leaders, also called for a “boycott” of countries that have opened diplomatic missions in the city.

Trump broke with decades of bipartisan policy to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017.

The OIC’s statement comes as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner prepares to roll out economic aspects of his long-awaited Middle East peace plan at a conference in Bahrain later this month. The plan, dubbed by Trump as the “deal of the century,” has already been rejected by the Palestinians, who say Trump’s policies have shown him to be blatantly biased in favor of Israel.

The Palestinians see the eastern part of the disputed city as the capital of their future state.

Kushner, who was in Jerusalem on Friday on the latest leg of a regional tour to sell the plan, had looked to an alliance with Saudi Arabia against Iran as a way to gain Arab support. But Saudi King Salman told leaders of the IOC countries gathered at the summit: “The Palestinian cause is the cornerstone of the works of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and is the focus of our attention until the brotherly Palestinian people get all their legitimate rights. We reaffirm our unequivocal rejection of any measures that would prejudice the historical and legal status of Quds [Jerusalem].”

The OIC also backed Saudi Arabia over escalating tensions with Iran, as King Salman warned that “terrorist” attacks in the Gulf region could imperil global energy supplies.

The remark came after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them Saudi oil tankers, off the U.A.E. and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline. “We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies,” the king told OIC member states.

Tehran has strongly denied involvement in any of the incidents. In a tweet just before the start of the summit, the king vowed to confront “aggressive threats and subversive activities.”

“Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the security of the Arab and Islamic world,” said OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen, voicing solidarity that was shared by other members.

In two previous back-to-back summits on Friday, Gulf and Arab allies similarly threw their support behind Saudi Arabia, which drew accusations from Iran of “sowing division.”

The summits came after Trump’s hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday that Iranian naval mines were “almost certainly” responsible for the damage to the four ships off the United Arab Emirates on May 12.

The findings of a five-nation inquiry into what happened have yet to be released.

Tehran dismissed Bolton’s accusation as “laughable” and accused him of pursuing “evil desires for chaos in the region.”

Regional tensions have grown since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration re-imposed sanctions against Iran, after Washington pulled out of a multilateral 2015 nuclear accord signed with the Islamic republic. But Trump has appeared to soften his tone towards Tehran, saying that his government does not seek “regime change.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was notably absent from the key OIC summit, an AFP photographer said. A regional heavyweight, Turkey—which maintains close ties with Iran—was instead represented by its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani was also not present but sent a representative to the talks, an AFP reporter said.

Erdogan’s visit would have been his first to the kingdom since the brutal murder last October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which tarnished the international reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. </s> ISLAMABAD - Ambssador Samir Bakr Diab, representing Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Tuesday expressed OIC’s deep concern over the recent developments in the Indian-occupied Kashmir and reaffirmed full support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle to achieve their legitimate right to self-determination.

An emergency meeting of OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir was held in Jeddah in the wake of illegal actions by India to alter the internationally recognised disputed status of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IoK).

The meeting was chaired by Assistant Secretary General OIC Ambassador Samir Bakr Diab and attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Foreign Office in a press release said.

Ambassador Sami Bakr Diab read out the statement of the OIC secretary general expressing “deep concern over the recent developments in IoK including the escalation of violence by the Indian forces and the measures taken by the Indian authorities that might affect the status of the territory and the rights of the Kashmiri people”.

He reaffirmed the OIC’s full support to people of Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle to achieve their legitimate rights, in particular the right to self-determination.

Other members of the Contact Group also made statements condemning the illegal Indian actions and expressing deep concern over the developments while reiterating their continued support for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Contact Group on Jammu & Kashmir was formed in 1994 to coordinate policy of the OIC on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Azerbaijan, Niger, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are its members. The deliberations of the Contact Group reflect the support of the OIC on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

They called for a peaceful resolution of the dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. The Contact Group condemned India’s recent illegal and unilateral steps, aimed at undermining the demographics and the disputed nature of the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in contravention of the relevant UN resolutions, which seriously imperil regional peace and security.

The Contact Group reaffirmed that Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognised dispute, pending on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council.

The Contact Group expressed its support to efforts of the Pakistan government for the resolution of the dispute and declared solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting emphasized that durable peace in South Asia rested with a just and final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the UN Security Council Resolutions.

The Contact Group urged India again to allow access to the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) and other international rights bodies on the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in order to independently verify the gross and blatant human rights violations.

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who led the Pakistan delegation, apprised the participants of the mala-fide Indian attempt to strengthen its illegitimate occupation of occupied Kashmir. He said that Indian steps which interfered with the demography of IoK and the disputed status of Jammu & Kashmir were a grave, destabilizing threat to the already volatile situation in South Asia and would have serious implications.

The foreign minister reiterated that no unilateral actions by India could change the disputed nature of Jammu & Kashmir.

He reiterated that Pakistan would continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to the indigenous struggle of the Kashmiri people for realization of their inalienable right to self-determination.

The IPHRC representatives briefed the participants about the worsening human rights situation in IoK and called upon the government of India to implement the recommendations of the reports of the OIC IPHRC and OHCHR on the human rights situation in IoK which called for establishing a commission for inquiry under the UN auspicious to investigate the human rights violations in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
At the close of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in Mecca, the OIC says it will not accept any decision to change the legal and demographic status of Syria's Golan Heights, that it condemns any position adopted by an international body that supports prolonging occupation of Palestinian territories, and it condemns the inhumane situation of Rohingya Muslims.