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On Tuesday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza and urged donors to meet and discuss financial reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave.
The OIC, after its second meeting in three days, said that it had condemned Israeli “in the liveliest terms” during the meeting and called Israel “the occupying force, for war crimes it doesn’t stop committing in the Palestinian territories”.
“Israel should immediately cease its aggression against the Palestinian people and shoulder political and legal responsibility for war crimes”, it said in a statement.
After the meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said, “Israel should realize that peace is the only option to survive”.
The OIC also proposed a donor meeting to talk about the reconstruction of Gaza. The Palestinian economy ministry has said that the war has caused around $4-6 billion of property damage.
The OIC also praised Saudi Arabia for providing around $ 80 million worth medical aid and pledging to provide another $500 million for reconstruction in Gaza.
Meanwhile,British-Lebanese human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, movie star George Clooney’s fiancé, quit a UN commission appointed to investigate any war crimes in Gaza. Late on Monday, Alamuddin said that she won’t be able to accept the role.
“I was contacted by the U.N. about this for the first time this morning.I am honored to have received the offer, but given existing commitments — including eight ongoing cases — unfortunately could not accept this role”, she said.
It is not clear if someone will replace her on the commission. The other two members of the commission are Canadian William Schabas, a professor of international law at Middlesex University, and Senegal’s Doudou Diene, a lawyer who was a former UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in Ivory Coast. Schabas will be the chairman of the commission.
