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Saudi Arabia - Israel Relations: Resolutions Adopted During the Thirty-Third Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers

(June 19 - 21 2006)

The Thirty-third Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, (Session of Harmony of Rights, Freedoms and Justice), held in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan  from 23 to 25 Jumada Awal, 1427H (19-21  June 2006),

1/33 PAL - On the cause of Palestine, the city of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and the Arab-Israeli conflict

In this resolution the members praise the “steadfast” and “valiant ” Palestinian people for their resistance against Israel, and assert that Israeli policies threaten Arab states and are harmful to the peace process. The Islamic Foreign Ministers also commend the Palestinians for their recent elections. The members of the conference express their support for the Arab Peace Initiative in the document, and call on the Quartet to resume work on achieving peace in the Middle East. The resolution uses harsh language and condemns Israel on multiple occasions, referring to the security fence as a “segregationist separation wall,” and implying that Israel is intentionally destroying cultural artifacts surrounding the al-Aqsa mosque and other holy Muslim sites. References are made within the document to Israeli “schemes” to steal land from its Palestinian inhabitants, and the Islamic Foreign Ministers claim that the Israelis exhibit “flagrant agression,” targetted specifically at Christians and Muslims.


         Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on the Cause of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Document No. OIC/33-2006/PAL/SG/REP.); 

         Proceeding from the principles and objectives enshrined in the Charter of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC);

         Based on the Islamic resolutions on the Cause of Palestine, the city of Al-Quds Al-Sharif and the Arab-Israeli Conflict;

         Recalling the resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council, particularly resolutions 242 (1967); 252 (1968); 338 (1973); 425 (1978); 465 (1980); 476 (1980); 478 (1980); 681 (1990); 1073 (1996); 1397 (2002); 1435 (2002); and 1515 (2003) and UN General Assembly resolution 194 on refugees, as well as resolution ES-10-10 adopted by the 10th Extraordinary Emergency Session of the General Assembly in 2002 on illegal Israeli practices in the occupied East Jerusalem and the other occupied Palestinian territories, as well as the UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/L15 on the apartheid wall which Israel is building on Palestinian land;

Referring to the resolutions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights relating to human rights violations in the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories, as well as the resolutions adopted by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the African Union (AU) and the League of Arab States;

         Affirming the Islamic States’ commitment to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the region;

Emphasizing that the Israeli policies, practices and expansionist designs threaten not only Arab states and the peace process, but also the Islamic countries at large and jeopardize international peace and security;

Hailing the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their valiant “Intifada” (uprising) aimed at recovering their inalienable national rights, as stipulated in all Arab and International resolutions.

1. Reaffirms all the resolutions adopted by the Islamic Conferences and Al-Quds Committee concerning the Cause of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

2.  Pays tribute to the Palestinian Legislative elections which, once again, bear evidence to the Palestinian people’s aptitude, capability and entitlement to self-determination and to the establishment of their own independent State on their national territories with Eastern Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, invites the international community to respect the Palestinian people’s democratic choice, and expresses its support to the Palestinian national authority and the Palestinian national dialogue aimed at affirming the Palestinian unity of rank and at reaching the most effective ways to achieve the emergence of the independent Palestinian State and a peace founded on the principle of two States in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Road Map.

3. Affirms the necessity of ending the Israeli occupation of the Arab and Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif, the occupied Syrian Golan and the other occupied Lebanese territories. 

4. Affirms the necessity of reaching a just solution to the Palestinian cause in all its aspects on the basis of international law and legitimacy and the terms of reference agreed upon, embodied in the relevant UN resolutions, the principle of land for peace and the inadmissibility of acquisition of others’ territory by force, the Arab peace initiative and the Roadmap, such as to enable the Palestinian people to achieve their national independence and exercise their sovereignty in their Palestinian State and its capital Al-Quds Al-Sharif.

5. Affirms the illegality of the Israeli laws and practices in Al-Quds Al-Sharif, aimed at annexing, judaizing and changing the demographic make-up of the city. Demands States and international institutions and bodies to abide by international resolutions on the City of Al-Quds as an integral part of the Palestinian and Arab territories occupied in 1967; and calls on them also to not participate in any meeting or activity that serves Israel’s objectives in establishing its occupation and annexation of the Holy City.

6. Reaffirms the necessity of finding a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy, particularly UN General Assembly resolution 194 (1948), and reiterates its rejection of all forms of settlement, and emphasizes the United Nations’ responsibility towards the Palestinian cause and the continued  role of the UNRWA in this respect.

   7. Reaffirms its commitment to and support for the Arab peace initiative and the Roadmap, and rejects the stands that run counter to the rules of international legitimacy and the terms of reference of the peace process enshrined in the two speeches of the Israeli Prime Minister and the American  President,  including  those stands that attempt to anticipate the outcomes of negotiations on the final settlement issues. Demands all States and international organizations to not recognize or deal with any guarantees or promises undermining the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and rewarding the Israeli occupation which seeks to impose its conditions through the policy of fait accompli.  

8. Calls upon the Quartet to resume serious work in order to achieve just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East in accordance with the Roadmap and the Arab peace initiative, to affirm the Palestinian territorial unity and integrity, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif, to reject any changes in the legal status of only a part of this territory, and to exclude the option of a State with temporary borders.

9. Reiterates its rejection of the Israeli fragmentary solutions and unilateral measures which Israel has adopted or intends to adopt in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including Al-Quds/Jerusalem, through which Israel is trying to preempt the outcome of the negotiations around the issues of the final status, and the unilateral border demarcation on the part of Israel in such a way as to fulfill its expansionist and intentions which thus undermines the chances of the emergence of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State.  

10. Invites the UN Security Council to assume its responsibility in maintaining international peace and security by forcing Israel to put an end to its occupation of the Palestine and Arab territories and aggression and its illegal measures and practices embodied in the killing of civilians, detention, collective punishment, siege and destruction of the Palestinian economy.

11. Affirms its condemnation of Israel’s continued colonization of the Palestinian territories through all forms of settlement activity, and requests the UN Security Council to see to their immediate ending and prohibition and to remove the existing Israeli settlements in accordance with UNSC resolution 465 and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. The Conference calls on the UN Security Council also to reinvigorate the International supervisory and Monitoring Committee in order to prevent settlement in al-Quds and the occupied Arab territories in accordance with UNSC resolution 446.

12. Strongly condemns Israel, “the occupying power”, for continuing to build the expansionist wall on Palestinian territories, including the so-called “Jerusalem Envelope” which is aimed at tearing apart al Quds and isolating its population. It stresses the extreme importance of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice issued in this connection and the UN General Assembly’s decision providing for the need for Israel, the UN Member States and the UN itself to abide by their legal obligations, including  the  appeal  launched  by the General Assembly of Switzerland, in its  capacity as the State wherewith the Fourth Geneva Convention is deposited, to make the necessary consultations to convene a meeting of the high contracting parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949

13. Urges the international community to counter the construction of the segregationist separation wall in the occupied Palestinian territories and its damaging impacts on the Palestinian people and their land, waters and borders, and the need to stop the construction of the wall and removing the existing parts thereof. It invites all States of the world to impose punitive measures against the bodies and companies contributing to the construction of the wall and against settlers, settlement products and all those making profit of any settlement activity on the occupied Palestinian territories, including al-Quds, in implementation of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice and the UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/15.    

14. Condemns Israel for the excavation works around and beneath the blessed Al Aqsa Mosque and for willfully destroying cultural and heritage sites in Al Quds, Nablus and Al-Khaleel (Hebron), and commends the initiative of the Director General of UNESCO concerning the preservation of the historical heritage of the city of Al Quds. In this regard, resolves to coordinate between the OIC General Secretariat and the UNESCO, and invites the Member States to support this initiative and help implement it.

15. Strongly condemns the Israeli schemes attempting to seize and annex the area of Ghor, the Read Sea, the Eastern slopes of the West Bank mountains, and to cut the remaining territories into three isolated cantons to prevent the possibility of the emergence of an independent contiguous Palestinian State on the Palestinian territories.  

16. Condemns Israel for plundering, moving and sabotaging cultural assets in numerous Palestinian cultural centers and museums, and demands the international community, the UNESCO and the World Heritage Commission to impose deterrent sanctions on Israel on grounds of the danger it constitutes to the treasures of world heritage, and to act toward the return of these plundered assets to Palestinian museums and cultural centers.

17. Calls for strengthened cooperation and coordination with international and regional organizations concerning the cause of al-Quds al-Sharif and Palestine, and requests the General Secretariat to organize joint activities with these organizations to support the Palestinian’s rights.

18. Strongly condemns Israel for its continued aggressions against the Islamic and Christian sanctities, and particularly for its repeated threats to break into and damage the blessed Al Aqsa Mosque; and holds Israel, as the “occupying power”, fully responsible for the consequences of these aggressions, which are carried out particularly as they happen under the witness and protection of Israeli occupation forces. It condemns terrorism exercised by settler gangs against Palestinian civilians and peace activists.

19. Condemns the project of establishing a Metro to link Al Quds Jerusalem with the Israeli settlements established by Israel in the West Bank reiterates the illegality of such a project and invites the two French contractors to withdraw immediately and calls for appropriate measures against them in case of failure to respond. It also calls on the friendly government of France to adopt the required steps to this effect in this matter.

20. Reaffirms the previous resolutions of the Islamic conferences supporting the city of Al-Quds Al-Sharif and consolidating the steadfastness of its people, and calls upon the Member States to support Bait Mal Al-Quds and Al-Quds Fund in order to enable them to perform their missions in safeguarding the Arab, Islamic and civilizational character of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and strengthening the steadfastness of its people in countering the continued Israeli measures aimed to judaizing the Holy City.

21. Condemns the flagrant Israeli aggression that targeted the Jericho Prison and the abduction of a number of Palestinian national figures who were held there, in what must be considered as a blatant violation of the Geneva Agreements and international law. It also invites the international community, and more particularly the Quartet Committee to condemn such a criminal act and assume full responsibility in ensuring the abducted person’s safety and security and to exert efforts to impress upon Israel to release them and to ensure non-recurrence of such aggressions and exactions that violates the concluded agreements.

22. Expresses deep concern over the tragic conditions endured by the Palestinian and Arab detainees in Israeli jails and detention centres, and urges the international community, represented in the humanitarian and justice defending organizations to expose the inhuman practices in Israeli prisons and exercise pressure on Israel to release the concerned detainees in compliance with the concluded agreements and understandings.  

23. Commends the efforts put in by the Islamic Development Bank both in managing the Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds Funds, and in contributing from its own resources to finance the building, and equipment of health and educational facilities.

24. Invites the Member States that have not yet joined the two funds to do so, and urges volunteering institutions to utilize the technical capacities and the contracting and disbursement mechanisms provided by the IDB in order to finance programmes and projects that meet the priority needs of the Palestinian people according to the best professional standards and practices.

25. Entrusts the General Secretariat and the Islamic Development Bank to make consultations to mobilize resources in order to support the Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds funds from the rest of OIC Member States, and to issue appropriate resolutions to increase the Funds’ resources and contributions.

26. Affirms its determined support and backing for the Syrian Arab Republic’s demand and right to restore the totality of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan to the line of 4 June 1967, on the basis of the peace process and the resolutions of international legitimacy, building on what has been accomplished in post-1991 Madrid Conference negotiations. It reaffirms the previous Islamic resolutions which reject all the actions taken by the Israeli occupation authorities aimed at changing the legal, natural and demographic status of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan, considering these actions null and void and a violation to international agreements and to UN Charter and resolutions.

27. Emphasizes that the continued occupation of the Syrian Arab Golan constitutes a permanent threat to peace and security in the region and the world, and strongly condemns the Israeli practices of building and expanding settlements. It urges the international community to hold to the resolutions of international legitimacy, and renews its support and backing for the steadfastness of the Arab citizens in the occupied Arab Syrian Golan in countering occupation and its oppressive practices, as well as their determination to hold fast to their land and Syrian Arab identity.    

28. Reaffirms its support for Lebanon in its efforts to complete the liberation of all its territories up to the internationally recognized borders, and in its demands to release Lebanese prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons. Also demands the UN Security Council to act toward preventing the repeated Israeli violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty in land, air and sea,

29.  and to force Israel to pay damages for all the losses sustained by the Lebanese territories as a result of its continuous aggressions against Lebanon. It supports Lebanon in its demands for the removal of the mines left behind by the Israeli occupation, as Israel is responsible for laying and removing these mines, and for the need to hand over full mine location maps. It also supports the inalienable rights of Lebanon to utilize its waters in accordance with the international law, condemns Israel’s designs on these waters, and holds Israel responsible for any action that would infringe upon Lebanon’s sovereignty, political independence, safety of its people and integrity of its territories.

30. Urges the international community and the UN Security Council to compel Israel to comply with U.N. resolutions, especially Security Council resolution 487 of 1981, to join the Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty, implement the resolutions of the General Assembly and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) calling for subjecting all Israeli nuclear installations to the Agency’s comprehensive safeguards system. Emphasizes the necessity for Israel to declare rejection of nuclear armament and to submit to the UN Security Council and the IAEA a factual statement on its capabilities and stockpile of nuclear weapons and substances, given the fact that those are imperative steps toward making the Middle East a WMD-free area, particularly of nuclear weapons, which is essential to the establishment of a comprehensive and just peace in the region.

31. Requests the Secretary-General to follow up on the implementation of the present resolution and to report thereon to the 34th Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers.


4/33 PAL - On the current situation of the peace process in the Middle East

This document starts out by insinuating that the “grave situation” in the Middle East is almost exclusively the fault of “successive Israeli governments hostile to peace”. In the resolution, the Islamic Council of Foreign Ministers made abundantly clear their “total solidarity” with not only the Palestinian people who are facing “continuous Israeli agression,” but also with the people of Syria and Lebanon who are apparently also subject to the same agression. As in the previous document, the Foreign Ministers reaffirmed their support for the Arab Peace Initiative, and urged the Quartet members to resume action finding a meaningful peace solution.


Referring to the Islamic Conference resolutions;

Having examined the grave situation resulting from the continued policies of successive Israeli governments hostile to peace,

1. Reaffirms its continued full solidarity with the Palestinian people for the recovery of their established and inalienable national rights, including their right to return, to self-determination, and to the establishment of their independent state on their national territory with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

2. Reaffirms the total solidarity of the Islamic States with Syria and Lebanon to confront the continuous Israeli aggressions and threats against them, and invites all the Islamic States to express this solidarity in a practical manner and by the use of all means, as well as to stand firm with Syria and Lebanon against any Israeli aggressions targeting them.

3Reiterates its adoption of the Arab peace initiative for settling the cause of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, which was adopted by the 14th Arab Summit held in Beirut (Lebanon) on 28 March 2002; decides to act by all means and ways to promote this initiative, explain its dimensions and gain international support for its implementation.

4.  Reaffirms also its commitment to a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East based on Israel’s implementation of the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy, particularly UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and 425, the principle of “land for peace”, and the Madrid Conference Terms of Reference, which guarantee Israel’s withdrawal from all occupied Arab and Palestinian territories, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif and the Syrian Golan, back to the 4th of June 1967 line and from the Lebanese territory still under occupation to the internationally recognized borders as well as securing the Palestinian people’s inalienable national rights, including the right to return to their homes and properties in line with United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 and to establish their independent state on their national territory with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.  No  party  whatsoever has the right to make any amendment to any of the terms of reference which formed the basis of the peace process as a means to renege their obligations and commitments under these agreements.

5.  Rejects the positions running counter to the rules of international legitimacy and the terms of reference of the peace process contained in the speeches made by the Israeli Prime Minister and the President of the United States in 14 April 2004, including those anticipating the outcomes of the negotiations on final settlement issues.

6. Invites the Quartet to resume its diligent action forth achievement of a just and comprehensive peace in the region on the basis of the peace process references represented in the relevant UN resolutions and the two principles of land for peace and the inadmissibility of the appropriation of others’ land by the use of force, as well as on the basis of the Arab peace initiative and the Road Map.

7.  Reiterates the Islamic stand which rejects fragmentary solutions and the Israeli unilateral measures; and urges all States and international organizations not to recognize these fragmentary solutions and Israeli unilateral measures or entertain any guarantees or promises that may entail any detraction from the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights or reward for the Israeli occupation which is trying to impose unilateral and segmented solutions through its persistent in expanding settlements and in erecting the Separation Wall in the occupied  Palestinian territories including Al-Quds Al-Sharif and its envious, in violation of the rules of international law and the fundamental references and foundations underpinning the peace process.  

8. Strongly condemns the Israeli government’s policy and practices which are hostile to the peace process and are designed to undermine it through the continued colonization of Arab and Palestinian territories, including the city of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and also designed to invalidate the foundations and terms of reference of the Madrid Peace Conference, and evade the obligations, commitments and agreements reached in the past years of peace talks with the Palestinian and other Arab parties.

9. Invites the OIC Member States which have already established, or started to take steps to establish relations with Israel in the framework of the Peace Process to sever these relations, including the closing of missions and offices, cutting economic ties and stopping all forms of normalization until Israel meticulously and genuinely implements UN resolutions on the Question of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, and until a just and comprehensive peace is established in the region.

10- Requests the Secretary-General to follow up on the implementation of the present resolution and report thereon to the 34th Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers.


5/33 PAL - On the mechanism for financial support for the Palestinian people

Resolution 5/33 begins by by accusing Israel of doling out collective punishment and engaging in “crimes, terrorist practices, and oppressive measures,” against the Palestinian people. The Islamic Foreign Ministers urged Arab states to pledge financial support to the Palestinian people to support infrastructure and economic development, per the agreements struck at the Extraordinary Arab Summit held in Cairo in October 2000. The document goes on to further encourage Arab states to donate to the Palestinian cause, and thanks the states that have donated in the past.


Proceeding from the principles and objectives of the OIC Charter,

Referring to the Islamic resolutions on the Palestinian problem and the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly resolution No.9/1-P(IS) adopted by the 9th Islamic Summit Conference held in Doha and the Third Extraordinary Islamic Summit held in Makkah Al Mukarramah which was held in December 2005.

Strongly condemning the crimes, terrorist practices and oppressive measures carried out by Israel, its insistence on expanding its settlement, its confiscation of land and property, its persistence in implementing collective punishment against the Palestinian people in all the occupied Arab territory, its siege of the Holy City of Al-Quds, and its violation of  Islamic and Christians sanctities and values;

Recalling the resolutions adopted by the Extraordinary Arab Summit held in Cairo in October 2000, calling for the establishment of a mechanism for supporting the Palestinian people, for the preservation of the identity of Al-Quds, the consolidation of the self- capabilities of the Palestinian economy; further Recalling, the two resolutions adopted by the Arab Summit in Beirut (March 2002) and by the Arab Summit in Sharem El-Sheikh (February 2003) with respect to increasing the resources of both the Al-Aqsa and Al- Quds Funds; Recalling, also, the resolution adopted at the Algiers Summit (March 2003) on expanding the resource base of the two Funds and inviting OIC Member States to join in their funding;

Commending the just and legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people for the restoration of their national rights, and expressing its determination to support this struggle by all possible means to enable the Palestinians to overcome their predicament and achieve all their objectives;

Urging donor State and financing institutions to extend financial support to boost the resilience of the Palestinian people, to support economic and social development programmes in Palestine, and to extend aid for building a national self-sufficient economy, and to strengthen national institutions.

Expressing its thanks to those states that have extended assistance to the Palestinian people to help them overcome, their ordeal which has been further aggravated on account of Israel’s continued withholding of the amounts due to the Palestinian national authority and the interruption of certain international parties’ assistance.

1. Condemns the practices imposed by the Israel at the crossing points in the Gaza Strip and West Bank areas, in violation of the provision of the humanitarian international law and the crossing points agreement reached under the patronage of the Quartet. The Conference warns against the foolhardy continuation of imposing such abusive measures which affects the various aspects of the Palestinian people’s daily life.

2. Invites Islamic financial and economic institutions to partake in the extension of their assistance in all possible form, to the Palestinian people and to intensify their efforts and programmes to extends financial and technical support to enhance the economic capabilities of the Palestinian people’s institutions.

3. Invites those states and institutions that have suspended their assistance to the Palestinian people following the Palestinian legislative elections, to reconsider their stand and not to penalize the Palestinian people for its democratic elections, and urges them to reinstitute their assistance to the Palestinian people and to its national authority and to help them build their country’s economy.

4. In implementation of the provisions of the Final Communique issued by the Third Extraordinary Islamic Summit, the Conference invites the Member States and the Muslim peoples to support the Al-Quds Fund through the contribution of one US Dollar by each Muslim, so as to assist the Palestinian people in the face of their ordeal and for the maintenance of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic holy places and for the preservation of the Arabo-Islamic character of the city of Al-Quds.

5. Commends the efforts of the Supreme Council and the Administrative Committee of the Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds funds and the Islamic Development Bank, both with respect to the management of the Funds and with regard to the management of its own financial resources to activate the financial support mechanisms for the benefit of the Palestinian people, to finance the equipping and construction of health and educational facilities.

6. Calls on these Member States which have yet to accede to both Funds to do so and appeals to voluntary institutions and donors to use the technical capacity as well as contracting and payment mechanisms set up by the Islamic Development Bank to finance programmes and projects that would meet the vital needs of the Palestinian people and ensure the spending of these resources in accordance with the best professional standards and practices.

7. Entrusts the General Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Islamic Development Bank to hold urgent talks so as to seek financial support from those Member States which have yet to announce their intentions to contribute to the two funds.

8. Requests the Secretary General to follow up the implementation of this resolution and to report thereon to the Thirty-fourth Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers.


Source: Wikileaks