The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu welcomed the recognition by the Republic of Guyana, an OIC Member State, of Palestine as a free and independent State to the 1967 borders, indicating that this step is a new qualitative development in international support to the inalienable Palestinian national rights and to the aspirations of the Palestinian people in the exercise of its right to self-determination by the establishment of a free and independent State on its territories, with Al-Quds as its capital. The Secretary General also welcomed the recognition of many States in Latin American of the free and independent Palestinian State within the 1967 borders, stating that this act goes in line with international legitimacy resolutions and lays the foundations for an important stage in the history of the Palestinian people and its just cause. The Secretary General expressed hope that other States would follow suit and recognize Palestine as a free and independent State on the Palestinian lands occupied by Israel in 1967, with eastern Al- Quds as its capital.
