OIC urges Security Council to back Palestine's full UN membership

GENEVA

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Thursday called on the U.N. Security Council to endorse Palestine's full membership in the world body and to maintain the Gaza ceasefire, as well as to take concrete steps to end Israel's occupation.

"We welcome the efforts of U.S. President (Donald) Trump and the signing earlier this month of a ceasefire agreement for Gaza," said Türkiye's deputy envoy to the U.N., Aslı Güven, as she addressed the council on behalf of the OIC Group.

She said the Gaza ceasefire "has opened a new vista in the global demarches for a durable peace in the Middle East."

"We call for the timely action of the council on the admission of Palestine as a full-fledged member of the United Nations," she urged.

Güven further urged that the council continue "to support and sustain the current momentum towards the restoration of durable peace in Gaza and the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory."

"We urge the esteemed council members to take cognizance of the very huge cost of the 2-year war in Gaza in human and material terms," she said, citing "the colossal loss of over 68,000 mostly civilian casualties," as well as the deaths of medical workers, UNRWA staff, and journalists.

The OIC also condemned Israeli actions in Syria and Lebanon and called Israel's decision in the occupied Golan "null and void" and urged Israel to withdraw from all occupied Arab lands "immediately, fully, and unconditionally."

"We thus reaffirm our sincere hope that the recent peace plan will usher in the much-desired peace in Palestine and across the entire Middle East," Güven noted.