UNITED NATIONS — Even as member states feuded, the Organization of the Islamic Conference yesterday found a topic to unite around: expressing its solidarity with Gaza and denouncing Israel.
Rallying around the Palestinian Arab "resistance" in Gaza and the West Bank may also soothe internal discord that has threatened to derail a summit of Arab League heads of state and foreign ministers, scheduled to begin in two weeks in Damascus.
At an OIC summit in the Senegalese capital yesterday, the U.N. secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, condemned Israel's "disproportionate" use of force in Gaza, telling the meeting of leaders of Muslim countries that the United Nations rejected anti-Islamic discrimination and commending them for speaking out against the use of religion to justify violence. The State Department, meanwhile, released a report yesterday on anti-Semitism that said OIC members have used the United Nations to issue anti-Israeli "polemics" that serve to "demonize" Jews and Israelis.
A day after an elite Israel Defense Force unit killed four Islamic Jihad leaders in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, at least 30 rockets launched from Gaza fell yesterday on southern Israel. The resumption of full-fledged hostility after a short lull has quieted speculation in the last few days about a tacit cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Both sides have denied negotiating any such agreement.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that it would not authorize government officials to be interviewed by Al Jazeera, saying the Qatar-based satellite TV network is inciting passions across the Arab world with graphic broadcasts from Gaza and the West Bank that are seen by Jerusalem as one-sided.
"The just and legitimate cause of Palestine remains at the heart of our concerns," the new OIC chairman and host of the Dakar summit, President Wade of Senegal, told his guests. "I should like to tell our brothers and sisters of Palestine that your unity is the first priority of success," he added. "Please unite."
Mr. Ban opened his address at the meeting with a dire description of the "precarious" situation in the Middle East. "Israel's disproportionate and excessive use of force has killed and injured many civilians, including children," he said, condemning Israel's actions and calling for them to end. Mr. Ban, who has been criticized at the United Nations as too pro-Israeli and pro-American, also added a condemnation of the rocket attacks against Israel, demanding their "immediate cessation."
