The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, acclaimed the report submitted by Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, on the grave Israeli violations of human rights during the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. Israelis, the report points out, committed war crimes and deliberately assassinated Palestinian civilians.
The report calls for the establishment of a special war crimes tribunal for the Gaza Strip under the auspices of the United Nations.
The Secretary General stated that the content of the UN report confirms the decision taken by the OIC Executive Committee at its meeting on January 3, 2009, calling for the need to put Israeli war criminals on trial before international justice so that they answer for their crimes.
It is about time the international community puts an end to Israeli condescension and its overbearing behaviour as though it were above the law. The international community ought to apply international law and the Geneva Conventions by holding Israel accountable for its aggression and the ensuant death and devastation it wreaked across Gaza as well as its abuse of the dignity and human rights of Palestinians.
Hence, the OIC reiterates its call upon international rights bodies and legal institutions in the OIC Member States to expedite the follow-through of the legal procedures that would ensure the trial of Israeli war criminals.