OIC to meet over Jerusalem updates

The members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will convene tomorrow to discuss the situation in the occupied Jerusalem, the Voice of Palestine reported, quoting the OIC’s envoy for the State of Palestine, Maher Karaki.

The meeting comes after several Palestinian officials have called for an OIC emergency meeting to discuss the recent updates on Jerusalem, following reports that the US President Donald Trump is soon recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s new capital.

On Friday, a US official said that Trump was likely to officially recognise Jerusalem as the new capital for the Jewish state. The official added that he is also considering the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to holy city.

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The Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riad Al-Maliki, based on instructions from the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was reported to have contacted the Arab League chief Ahmed Abul-Gheit and the OIC Secretary-General Yousef Al-Othaimeen, asking them to “urgently” convene to discuss the situation in Jerusalem.

Al-Maliki warned that such a US move “would have grave consequences” and would “blow up the situation in the Palestinian territories and the region”.

Jerusalem remains at the core of the perennial Israel-Palestine conflict, as Palestinians want Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.