It should not be forgotten that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation came into being in 1969 over the Palestine issue. After the occupation of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, there was an attempt to burn down the Masjid Al-Aqsa in August 1969, and there was a Summit within a month in Rabat, Morocco. The Arab League is even older, founded in 1945 by the seven Arab states then independent, just before the end of World War II, and the 1948 creation of Israel. It would thus not be an exaggeration to say that the year that both organizations took to arrange a summit to pass a resolution condemning the Israeli aggression, seemed lackadaisical. Things are complicated, with Saudi Arabia hosting, even though its impending recognition of Israel was supposed to have provoked Hamas into tipping its hand and launching the tracks on 7 September 2023 which have led to Israel killing 44,000 Palestinians up to November 10 in Gaza, and 780 in the West Bank. While the Arab League last has summit in Algiers in 2022, the last OIC Summit took place in Banjul, Gambia, in June, and did adopt a resolution on Palestine, but stayed away from taking any action.
The summit did not take notice of the special force headed by former Pakistani COAS Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif. There are of course, multiple issues about that force, not least its actual combat readiness, and what mission it could be used to accomplish. The Summit seemed to stress the need for peace to be preserved, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did express support for a two-state solution, but Israel has apparently taken that off the table.
It should not be forgotten that Pakistan may have an interest in the Palestine issue because of the religious reverence that it has for the Masjid Aqsa as the Qibla-i Awwal and the location of the Israa and Miraj, but also because of its uncanny resemblance to the Kashmir issue. Like the Kashmiri people, the Palestinians have been denied their right of self-determination.This is symbolized by the alliance that has developed between India and Israel. The OIC (which includes the entire Arab League) has not proved particularly effective in helping the people of Gaza, and it is unlikely that it has impressed either the Israelis or its staunchest support, the incoming US Trump Administration.
