2024-02-10 17:07:15
The Argentine president’s decision to transfer his country’s embassy to Jerusalem continues to make waves. In a statement issued on February 7 in Jeddah, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned this controversial announcement.
A violation of international law for the OIC
Without mincing words, the OCI denounces “a flagrant violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions”. The pan-Islamic organization refers in particular to Security Council Resolution 478, adopted in 1980, which calls on all countries with diplomatic missions in Jerusalem to withdraw them.
For the OIC, Argentina’s choice to relocate its embassy to the Holy City therefore constitutes a decision ” illegal » which infringes “to the rights of the Palestinian people”.
OIC urges Argentina to reverse its decision
Faced with what it considers to be a provocation, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation bluntly calls on Argentina to abandon its plan to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem.
The OIC also urges Buenos Aires “to honor its obligations under United Nations resolutions” on the status of Jerusalem. Resolutions which enshrine the occupied nature of East Jerusalem annexed by Israel and its vocation to become the capital of the Palestinian state within the framework of a two-state solution.
The particular sensitivity of the status of Jerusalem
To fully understand the vigor of the OIC’s reaction, we must recall the particular sensitivity of the status of Jerusalem in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A three-times holy city for the three great monotheistic religions, Jerusalem constitutes a major political and symbolic issue. Israel considers Jerusalem its capital “eternal and indivisible”, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
The transfer of the Argentine embassy, following the American example, would therefore be seen as a provocation and an attack on the rights of the Palestinians in the eastern part of the Holy City.
The OIC on the front line on the Palestinian question
The OIC, which positions itself as the primary defender of the Palestinian cause, could not remain silent in the face of the Argentine initiative.
With 57 member states, the organization represents more than 1.8 billion Muslims around the world. The Palestinian question remains one of its strategic priorities since its creation in 1969.
This is therefore not the first time that the OIC has stepped up to the plate on the diplomatic scene to denounce what it considers to be violations of Palestinian rights.
What will his voice weigh this time? The organization is in any case determined to put pressure on Argentina to reverse course. To be continued…