The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) celebrated the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which falls on November 29 of each year, at its headquarters in Jeddah on Wednesday, December 07, 2022. In his speech, the OIC Secretary-General, Hissein Brahim Taha, expressed the OIC's uncompromised solidarity with the Palestinian people and affirmed the centrality of the Palestinian Cause for the Islamic Ummah. Brahim Taha condemned the illegal measures and practices committed by the Israeli occupation to change the character and geography of the city of Al-Quds, obliterate its Arab identity, desecrate its sanctities, violate the freedom of worship therein, and isolate it from its Palestinian surroundings, pointing out that this constitutes a grave challenge that the international community must assume its responsibilities to address immediately. He expressed the OIC's condemnation of the Israeli occupation's policies of building colonial settlements, called for strengthening joint efforts to confront such policies and expose them to world public opinion, and called on all countries to increase financial contributions to enable the UNRWA to continue providing basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees. The Secretary-General also called for concerted efforts to revive the peace process under multilateral international auspices to reach a just, comprehensive, and lasting solution to the Palestinian Cause per international law, relevant United Nations resolutions, and the Arab Peace Initiative. On this occasion, the Consul General of the State of Palestine Amb. Mahmoud Al-Asadi, and the Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to the OIC in Jeddah Amb. Maher Al-Karaki delivered speeches at this celebration, which witnessed the participation of the staff of the General Secretariat and several consuls general and delegates of the Member States.
