Anwar wants OIC members to call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim wants Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries to call for an immediate ceasefire consistently and assertively and expedite humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.

Speaking during the 8th Extraordinary Islamic Summit of the OIC in Riyadh yesterday to discuss the ongoing Israeli aggression in Palestine, he said the ummah expects tangible results and concrete action from the one-day Islamic summit.

“I call upon each of us (OIC members) to strategically employ our diplomatic channels and networks in every dialogue and on every stage, be it bilateral or multilateral, regional or international.

“Let us consistently and assertively call for the following in a concerted diplomatic campaign to institute an immediate ceasefire and expedite humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” the Prime Minister said.

The meeting, held at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre, is hosted by Crown Prince Mohammed Salman, who is also the prime minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

More than 11,000 Palestinians, a majority of them women and children, have been killed as a result of more than a month of relentless Israeli airstrikes and brutal ground operations in Gaza.

Anwar, who arrived in Riyadh yesterday afternoon, also hoped for all Israeli settlement activity and settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank to cease immediately.

He also called to investigate and prosecute all breaches of international law, including war crimes, through international institutions.

Malaysia, according to Anwar, supports the Arab Peace Initiative and negotiations with reputable mediators to advance the two-state solution with a recognition of the independent state of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The prime minister wanted the forced displacement of civilians to cease immediately.

Combat Islamophobia

He also wants OIC member countries to combat the global rise of Islamophobia while safeguarding the right to peaceful expressions of support for the Palestinian cause.

For over a month, he said, the besieged people of Gaza have been subjected to barbaric cruelties and genocide by Israeli forces, indiscriminately targeting men, women and children.

“Gaza has become a graveyard of martyr innocents, mostly children of Palestine. Neither homes, hospitals, nor religious sanctuaries, Muslim or Christian, are safe from Israel’s indiscriminate attacks,” he said.

According to Anwar, this continuation of the politics of dispossession of the Palestinians is not taking place in the dead of night, but it is being perpetrated in full view of the world in a flagrant breach of international law.

“The political class of Western nations exhibits a selective myopia towards the turmoil in Palestine.”

He said a sea of change in awareness has taken root, as shown in mass demonstrations of unprecedented proportion throughout the world, including the Western world, in support of Palestine.

“Ironically, in these capitals that herald free speech and human rights as sacrosanct rights, some authorities have denounced proponents of the Palestinian cause, maligning them as purveyors of hate speech and supporters of terrorism.

“This is perverse double standards writ large,” he added.

The prime minister also applauded the initiative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to convene this Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit.

“And I commend Your Highness for setting the tone of unequivocal support for the Palestinian cause and for your condemnation of the colonisation and atrocities committed by Israel. I wish to also thank President Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt for facilitating the humanitarian aid,” he said.

- Bernama

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