King to head Jordan’s delegation to OIC summit Friday

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah is scheduled on Friday to head the Jordanian delegation participating in the extraordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Thursday. 

The summit, to be held in Istanbul, follows the latest developments of the Palestinian issue due to relocating the US embassy to Jerusalem and the Israeli violence against Palestinians in Gaza. 

The summit comes upon a call of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the second since December last year, when the US announced its decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. 

Turkey, which is the rotating president of the 57-member organisation, is hosting the emergency meeting to discuss a joint action against Israel in the wake of the recent Gaza killings, according to Anadolu news agency.  

The meeting is expected to “give a strong message against the Israeli violence that led to the death of at least 62 Palestinians  during mass rallies Monday along Gaza's eastern border,” the official agency said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Afghan President Ashraf Gani, Kuwaiti Amir Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah and Mauritanian President Mohammad Veled Abdulaziz are expected to participate in the summit meeting.

A final declaration is to be released after the gathering. 
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin was quoted by the agency as saying that the OIC summit meeting will focus on steps to be taken to mobilise the international community to end the persecution of Palestinians.

In a written statement on Thursday, Kalin said the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian issue are not problems for the Muslim countries alone but common problems for all who believe in law and justice.

Monday’s protests in Gaza had coincided with Israel’s 70th anniversary — an event Palestinians refer to as Nakba or the catastrophe — and the relocation of the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since the mass Gaza rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian protesters have been killed by cross-border Israeli army gunfire.

Last week, the Israeli government claimed the ongoing border protests constituted a “state of war” in which international humanitarian law does not apply.