*ISTANBUL: A summit in Istanbul of Muslim heads of state on Friday calledfor the creation of an international peacekeeping force to protect thePalestinians, as host Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israelof “brutality” comparable to the Nazis.*
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) — seeking tobridge severe differences within the Muslim world — said in a finalcommunique that Israel had carried out the “wilful murder” of some 60Palestinians on the Gaza border Monday.
It called “for the international protection of the Palestinian population,including through dispatching of international protection force”.
Erdogan said the sending of such an “international peacekeeping force” wasessential to help the Palestinians and stop the international communitybeing a “spectator to massacres”.
He compared such a force to the UN forces sent to deal with the aftermathof the Balkan wars in Bosnia and Kosovo.
The statement also angrily lashed out at the United States, saying thatWashington was complicit in the “crimes” of Israel and “emboldened” itsgovernment by moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
*’No difference with Nazis’*
The summit had been called at a few days notice by Erdogan, who had earlieraddressed thousands at an open air rally in Istanbul to express solidaritywith the Palestinians.
Speaking at the opening of the summit, Erdogan compared Israel´s actionsagainst the Palestinians in Gaza to the Nazi persecution of the Jews in theHolocaust during World War II.
“There is no difference between the atrocity faced by the Jewish people inEurope 75 years ago and the brutality that our Gaza brothers are subjectedto,” he said, accusing Israel of using methods “similar to the Nazis”.
Around six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II in theHolocaust.
Addressing the earlier rally, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim used similarlanguage, saying Israel was “imitating Hitler and Mussolini” by occupyingPalestinian territory and disregarding international law.
Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah — stepping in for presidentMahmud Abbas who this week had surgery on his ear — told the rally thatthe US was “trying to provoke a religious conflict in the region” by movingits embassy to Jerusalem.
*’Test for Islamic world’*
Erdogan complained that Muslims had too often given a “shy and cowardly”image to their foes and failed to sort out internal disagreements.
Describing the issue of Jerusalem as a “test”, he said: “If we need tospeak clearly, the Islamic world failed in the Jerusalem test.”
This is the second emergency OIC meeting Erdogan has hosted in the space ofhalf a year after the December 2017 summit, also in Istanbul, thatdenounced US President Donald Trump´s decision to recognise Jerusalem asthe capital of Israel.
Disputes between the OIC´s key players — notably between Sunni kingpinSaudi Arabia and Shiite Iran — always complicate the adoption of anymeasures going beyond harsh rhetoric.
Riyadh — which appears to have softened its stance on Israel as theinfluence of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has grown — and itsallies fear alienating the United States with tough measures against TelAviv.
Saudi Arabia´s chief foreign policy preoccupation, shared with Israel, isensuring US backing to contain Iran which both Riyadh and the Jewish statesee as the main threat to regional peace.
In his speech, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pointedly criticised “thesilence of certain countries” without which “the Zionists would have neverattempted such a brutality”
Both Cairo and Riyadh are wary of Turkey´s support for the MuslimBrotherhood and Hamas, as well as its close alliance with Qatar which iscurrently under a Saudi-led blockade. the Egyptian and Saudi foreignministers came but not the heads of state.
*’Called to account’*
Erdogan has long craved a role as a Muslim leader within the entire Islamicworld, rarely holding back with tirades against Israel even though Ankarahas diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
Tensions with Israel and hosting such a meeting also does Erdogan no harmwith his core supporters as Turkey heads to presidential and parliamentarypolls on June 24.
And he has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of Israel afterMonday´s bloodshed, earlier this week even accusing the Jewish state ofgenocide.
He called for an international investigation into the “crimes” Israel hascommitted. “It will be called to account sooner or later,” he said. -APP/AFP