The world’s largest bloc of Muslim countries declared East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state at a meeting convened by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, solidifying opposition to President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said in a joint statement on Wednesday that it considered Trump’s declaration “null and void legally” and an attack on the rights of the Palestinian people.
The declaration was spearheaded by Erdogan, who urged Muslims around the world to recognise East Jerusalem as the occupied capital of Palestine at a speech during the summit in Istanbul.
Erdogan has taken the lead in blasting Trump’s decision to overturn decades of US policy on the status of the divided city, which is home to some of the most sacred sites in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, making it a tinder box for competing religious claims.
Read the full article by Selcan Hacaoglu at the Sydney Morning Herald.