Rabat – King Mohammed VI dedicated a lengthy section of his speech at the symposium held in Rabat on Thursday, December 12 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to renew Morocco’s firm position on the Palestinian cause.
Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita read King Mohammed VI’s message to the attendees of the symposium.
The first lines of the King’s letter underlined the importance of the OIC and its objectives to defend the interests of Muslims across the globe, and to help to find a solution to end disputes and conflicts.
King Mohammed VI then spoke about the unity and the “unwavering faith” of the members of OIC in the legitimacy of their primary cause: Palestine and Jerusalem question.
The monarch renewed the “constant commitment” of Morocco, its King, and government as well as the people to defend Al Quds and Palestine and “to preserve the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, by all political, diplomatic legal means and by all possible forms of mobilization on the ground.”
Morocco’s government has long supported the Palestinian cause, with full determination to continue to defend its internet and the legitimate rights of Palestinians.
The message of the King echo’s his recent statement to the Annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People celebrated on November 29.
In his previous message, the King spoke about the exclusivity of the two-state solution as the means to end the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
He also emphasized Morocco’s unchanged position of solidarity and an independent Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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In today’s message, the monarch reaffirmed the need to find a solution to the Palestinian cause, saying that this desire stems from “our firm belief that peace in the Middle East necessarily entails the establishment of an independent Palestinian state defined according to the borders of 1967 and whose capital is the eastern part of Al Quds.”
“We urge the international community to be responsible for the development of a new road map to implement the resolutions of international legality and the peace agreements concluded so far,” the King added.
He stipulated that the international community’s ultimate goal is “to put an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.”
Division at OIC
The King also acknowledged division and “horrible sectarianism” among the OIC Member states. He added that the celebration of the 50th anniversary of OIC is occurring in a “complex and intricate international environment” due to crises in some OIC member countries.
“They have had serious repercussions at regional level, not only exacerbating the risk of division and horrible sectarianism but also fueling extremism and terrorism,” the monarch said in the message.
He asked the member states to take a moment to identify the consequences and the “root causes that have led to this situation.”
“We should stand up to the parties that are seeking to exploit the crisis in order to foment division or redraw the map of the Islamic world using, to that end, criteria that ignore identity as much as historical facts. These parties have been trying to interfere with the destiny of nations and are putting global security and stability in jeopardy,” he concluded.
