Muslim states urge global ban on settlement products
Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit concludes in Indonesia with promise of support for Palestinians' 'inalienable rights'
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A global Muslim body called Monday for an international ban on products from Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, and pledged full support for the “inalienable rights” of the Palestinians.
The call came at the end of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, which brought together representatives from 57 states.
An OIC resolution urged “member states and the wider international community to ban products produced in or by illegal Israeli settlements from their markets.”
However, the move was not binding on member states.
The settlements — developments in areas seized by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War — are considered illegal by much of the international community, with some communities built on land in in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that Palestinians claim as part of a future state.
The issue of goods imported from settlements have recently caused diplomatic tensions for Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November briefly suspended diplomatic contacts with the European Union about the Middle East peace process — which has been stalled for almost two years — over the bloc’s own recommendation to member states not to label imported produce from the settlements as “Made in Israel.”
The suspension was ended last month when Netanyahu held talks with the EU’s foreign policy chief.
At the end of Monday’s summit, the OIC also pledged “full support to the political, diplomatic and legal efforts” to ensure the Palestinians achieved their “inalienable rights.”
The Jakarta meeting was attended by leaders including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for alleged war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
It came amid a five-month wave of terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Twenty-nine Israelis and three foreign nationals have been killed in a wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence since October. Some 180 Palestinians have also been killed, about two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.
US-brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in April 2014.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.