News / Palestine

OIC urges global ban on products from Israeli settlements

Tuesday, 08 March 2016 6:35 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 09 March 2016 4:01 AM ]

Foreign ministers of OIC countries and delegates pose for photographers during a summit on Palestine in Jakarta, March 6, 2016. (AFP photo)

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called for a global ban on products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The OIC urged “member states and the wider international community to ban products produced in or by illegal Israeli settlements from their markets,” on Monday.

The global body made its request during the 5th Extraordinary OIC Summit on Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, which was attended by representatives from 57 countries, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The OIC also pledged “full support to the political, diplomatic and legal efforts” to ensure the Palestinians achieved their “inalienable rights.”

Last month, hundreds of Palestinians held demonstrations in the occupied West Bank and called for the boycott of Israeli products.

Workers pack apples at a factory in the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights. (Photo by AFP)

Last November, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended Israel’s ties with the European Union (EU) after the bloc decided to label products imported from Israeli settlements as “made in Israel.” However contacts were reestablished last month.

The summit on Monday was held at the request of Abbas to discuss the Israeli escalation and its restriction on Palestinians’ access to the al-Aqsa Mosque. The occupied Palestinian territories have been the scene of heightened tensions triggered by Israel’s imposition in August 2015 of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the mosque compound in East al-Quds.

Nearly 200 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed by Israeli forces since the escalation of tension.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem (al-Quds). The Israeli settlements are regarded as unlawful by the United Nations and most countries.

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