Quartet report biased in favor of Israeli occupiers: OIC

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has censured a report by the Quartet on the Middle East, a foursome involved in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stressing that the document is biased in favor of Tel Aviv.

In a statement released on Saturday, OIC Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani described the Quartet report as flawed, saying it “lacks objectivity.”

“The report is not objective while describing Israel’s occupation and its illegal policies which hinder a political solution,” Madani said.

The remarks came one day after the Quartet, comprising of the United Nations, the US, Russia and the European Union, published its eight-page report following months of delays.

The text proposed a negotiated so-called two-state solution as the only way to achieve peace in the occupied territories, adding that the illegal Israeli settlements as well as the regime’s demolition of Palestinian homes and expropriation of land were “steadily eroding the viability of the [so-called] two-state solution.”

“This raises legitimate questions about Israel’s long-term intentions, which are compounded by the statements of some Israeli ministers that there should never be a Palestinian state,” the Quartet report added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the OIC chief urged the Quartet to act as a mediator to halt Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian lands and pave the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, with East al-Quds as the capital. They are also demanding that Israel withdraw from the Palestinian lands occupied in a 1967 war.

The Tel Aviv regime, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.

Additionally, the head of the Jeddah-based international organization noted that 2,420 Palestinians have been killed in the last two years, while many have had their houses destroyed, their water and electricity cut off, and their financial and natural resources seized.

The occupied territories have been the scene of heightened tensions since August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in an alleged bid to change the status quo of the holy Muslim site.

Nearly 220 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in what is regarded as the third Palestinian Intifada (uprising) since the beginning of last October.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk