Turkish NGO urges concrete OIC decisions for Palestine

By Sefa Mutlu

ISTANBUL

A Turkish NGO is pushing for courageous and concrete decisions for Palestine during the extraordinary Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Istanbul set for Friday.

In a full-page newspaper ad on Thursday, the National Will Platform accused Israel of "occupying and terrorist behavior".

"[Israel] once again proved this with its massacre on May 14,” Monday, when at least 62 Palestinian demonstrators were martyred and hundreds more injured by Israeli troops, said the ad.

Monday's "relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem is also illegitimate under international law, and this decision must be reversed immediately," it added.

The platform also decried the indifference of Muslim countries towards the Palestine cause, calling it "saddening".

"The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which will convene on Friday, May 18, must take urgent, courageous, and concrete decisions," said the platform.

Citing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the platform said the campaign for Palestine and Jerusalem must be strongly supported.

Washington's decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem dragged a world already beset by economic and political crises into more serious chaos, said Yusuf Tulun, chair of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, in a meeting of the National Will Platform in Istanbul.

"Zionist Israel, which has stepped up its occupations since 1948, has become a terrorist state with its massacres and carried out a massive massacre on the eve of Ramadan with the courage it drew from imperialist powers, especially the United States," he said.

Monday’s demonstration coincided with Israel’s 70th anniversary -- an event Palestinians refer to as “The Catastrophe” -- and the relocation of Washington’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem.

Since the Gaza rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred by cross-border Israeli army gunfire.

Last week, the Israeli government claimed the ongoing border protests constitute a “state of war” in which international humanitarian law does not apply.