His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani arrived in Istanbul yesterday to participate in the extraordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), which will be held today.
The summit is called by Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan to discuss the situation, steps and procedures required after the US administration’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Turkey is the current president of the OIC.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and leaders of the Islamist movement Hamas will both attend the summit.
The presidents of Iran, Indonesia and Somalia are other leaders expected to attend the meeting. King Abdullah of Jordan, who is the formal custodian of Christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, is also expected.
Nearly a week after Trump declared Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, sparking fears of a renewed armed uprising in the Palestinian territories, unrest in the West Bank and Gaza had appeared to subside.
A new poll indicates that Palestinian support for armed conflict remains high, but it was nearly unchanged following the Jerusalem move.
According to the survey conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, 44% of Palestinians - 41% in the West Bank and 47% in Gaza - say that “armed resistance” is the most effective means of establishing a Palestinian state next to Israel.
A survey conducted in September by the same institute showed that 45% of Palestinians supported an armed intifada, or uprising.
A cumulative total of 51% of respondents supported either negotiations or non-violent resistance.
Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of 91% of those surveyed viewed Trump’s Jerusalem declaration as threat to Palestinian interests.
Palestine, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa have been the red lines since the beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the first half of the last century. Page 13
His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani
