JEDDAH, 22 February 2007 — The secretary-general of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, yesterday expressed his anguish and dismay at the world’s silence on Israel’s blatant moves to Judaize Jerusalem and change the holy city’s historic character. The OIC was formally established in September 1969 after the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“When the Buddhist statues were being demolished in Bamiyan, the whole world rose up against the Taleban regime in Afghanistan,” he said in an exclusive interview with Arab News yesterday. “UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was very active then, but not a word is being said against what Israel is doing to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Nobody utters a word against the Israeli aggression. Nobody is really taking any action. There is silence all over."
The OIC foreign ministers meet today in Jeddah to formulate a strong response to the dire situation in Jerusalem. The ministers will examine developments in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Israeli excavations and demolition near the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The issue has already triggered worldwide condemnation from Muslims.
Israel claims the excavation work is to recover artifacts before constructing a walkway to the mosque, but Muslims around the world insist the digging is geared toward destroying the foundation of the 1,400-year-old mosque.
Ihsanoglu said the excavation work being carried out by Israel constituted the gravest threat ever to one of Islam’s three holiest mosques. “What we are watching today is the gravest threat because we are living in an age of globalization — in a world where everybody knows everything in real time,” Ihsanoglu said. “In the Middle Ages and during the Crusades, nobody knew what was going on. It took days and weeks and even months for news to trickle to the other quarters of the world.”
The OIC chief said what was happening in Jerusalem was nothing new. “This has been the case ever since Israel occupied Palestine. The Jewish state has always wanted to change the nature of Al-Quds and the holy site. It wants to alter the city’s demographics and Islamic identity... So this is nothing new. But of course what has happened in the last few weeks is that they have accelerated the attempts by the destructive changes. They have clearly indicated their plans to Judaize the whole city.”
He said everybody was asking Hamas and the Palestinians to comply with the conditions of the Quartet (Russia, the United Nations, United States and the European Union). “But nobody is asking Israel to comply with international law and with international conventions.”
As to whether some Muslim countries were in touch with Israel on the Al-Aqsa issue, Ihsanoglu said: “The only initiative that I know of is the Turkish initiative in which Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed with the Israeli prime minister the issue of sending a technical, fact-finding mission to Al-Quds Al-Shareef to see the excavation work for itself. Apart from that initiative, I am unaware of any attempt to put pressure on Israel by OIC countries that have diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv.”
As for approaching the United Nations, Ihsanoglu said: “Yes, we have already done this. Two weeks ago, I was in Paris. I had a meeting with OIC ambassadors and UNESCO, and we had a long discussion. We discussed the Israeli move to establish the so-called ‘Museum of Tolerance’ on Ma’amunallah Graveyard in Jerusalem, the graveyard where the companions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) are buried. It is a mockery to have a museum of tolerance on such an important Muslim site. I have already sent a letter to the director general of UNESCO asking him to take action, and in my meeting with OIC ambassadors, I asked them to follow up the matter.”
Ihsanoglu said he had asked OIC ambassadors in New York to do the same. “They had already proposed a strong resolution condemning the Israeli activities and Israeli aggression. Our ambassadors met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and conveyed our message to him. They (the OIC ambassadors) contacted the Quartet. We’ve conveyed to them the concerns of the Muslim world.... We are doing everything that we can, but I think more needs to be done. We need to contact all effective members, and that really needs the help of member countries — countries that have good relations with the international community and with the members of the Quartet.”
The OIC secretary-general said Muslims the world over should continue to apply pressure on their respective governments. “But we should not resort to any violence. We should always consider peaceful measures. We should refrain from any extremist action. The best that can be done by the masses is to shape world opinion. They should express strong concern and worries about what is happening to Al-Aqsa Mosque and ask their governments to put pressure on countries that have access to Israel, that have leverage with Israel and also to coordinate the efforts in the United Nations and UNESCO.”
Today’s meeting at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah will call on member countries to respond to the grievances of the Palestinians and the grievance of the people of Al-Quds Al-Shareef. “It is a call to member countries to take action and work out measures to stop this aggression,” Ihsanoglu said, and added: “We are expecting good participation.”
On Tuesday, the Palestinian Parliament called on those Arab states that have diplomatic ties with Israel to sever them. In a similar demand last week, a group of Jordanian Parliamentarians called on Amman to snap ties with Israel saying the Jewish state is violating the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty by its excavation work near the holy mosque. That peace agreement gave Jordan legal custody of the Islamic sites in East Jerusalem which Israel wrested from Jordanian control in the 1967 war.
