As the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, we not only dismiss the US administration’s unilateral decision, which violates the international law by recognizing Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of the State of Israel and which plans to move the Tel Aviv based US Embassy to Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and consider this inexplicable and imprudent decision to be null and void.

Al-Quds Al-Sharif, home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the first Qibla of Muslims, and the cradle of various religions and civilizations for many years, “cannot be left in the hands of an occupying state, which since 1967 has been using terror in an attempt to usurp the land of the Palestinians, with no regard for the law and morality. For all Muslims, Al-Quds Al-Sharif is the apple of our eye. While one part of our heart is in Mecca and Medina, a part of our heart is also in Al-Quds Al-Sharif,” as stated by H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Term President of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and also the Chairman of COMCEC.

Such a decision, which is disconnected from the historical, social and political realities of the region and will feed every kind of violence and chaos, and deepen Israel’s occupation, will abolish the rights of all non-Jewish parties living in Al-Quds Al-Sharif, terminate the negotiation environment, and eliminate the possibility of a peaceful solution. Based on this premise, we call upon the entire Islamic Ummah and all other countries and communities embodying moral values and insight, to consider this decision null and void.