HNW Urges OKI to Take Firm Action to Stop Israel's West Bank Annexation Plan

Hidayat Nur Wahid (HNW), Vice Chair of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), has urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OKI) emergency session, attended by foreign ministers, to criticise Israel’s plan to annex the West Bank in Palestine. He has called for the forum to produce not merely statements of condemnation, but concrete decisions and agreements to take more operational steps to halt the planned annexation.

According to HNW, such efforts are crucial to protect the West Bank as part of broader efforts to safeguard Palestine and the Al-Aqsa Mosque from illegal Israeli control.

“This OKI emergency ministerial meeting is crucial because the situation is deteriorating, threatening not only the Gaza Strip but other Palestinian territories, namely the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Importantly, this summit must produce joint operational decisions and not stop at verbal statements of condemnation or rejection that have already been frequently expressed but proven to be ignored by Israel. Indeed, Israel has become increasingly brutal in attacking Gaza, controlling the West Bank and the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” HNW stated in a statement on Friday.

According to HNW, given the severity of the current situation, the foreign ministers’ meeting should be escalated to a summit of OKI member states’ heads of state. This would enable more strategic and concrete decisions to be reached.

“Whilst the initial discussion is appropriately conducted by foreign ministers, achieving more strategic and concrete decisions to save the West Bank as a concrete step to save Palestine is crucially important if the foreign ministerial summit decisions are followed up with a summit of OKI heads of state,” he said.

Moreover, HNW continued, heads of state from several OKI member nations also sit on the Board of Peace (BoP), chaired by United States President Donald Trump.

“There is a need for a joint approach to discuss the maximum role of OKI member state leaders in the Board of Peace. This includes considering a boycott of the board if it proves ineffective in advancing Palestine’s cause through ending the war, achieving peace, and securing Palestinian independence, even within a two-state solution framework. It is evident that rather than Israel ceasing its warfare and achieving peace, Israel has expanded its theatre of war by attacking the West Bank and making military decisions and taking military action to annex the West Bank,” he stated.

HNW added that more concrete operational corrective measures from the OKI summit must be jointly decided, since strong statements have been issued three times jointly by dozens of OKI foreign ministers regarding the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, yet these joint statements have been disregarded by the US and Israel, as evidenced by Israel’s continued actions against Gaza and the West Bank.

“The situation has become even more serious with the open statement by the US Ambassador to Israel regarding expansion and colonisation extending to the Nile and Euphrates rivers, thereby threatening the sovereignty of several OKI member nations, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Despite strong rejection by OKI foreign ministers, there has been no correction or clarification from Trump. There has been no statement condemning these actions from Trump, let alone stopping the war and achieving peace. Even in such circumstances, for the first time in history, the US Government has opened a consulate in Efrat, south of Bethlehem, in an area of illegal Israeli occupation, which appears to be a legalisation of Israel’s annexation steps over the West Bank region,” he said.

HNW hopes the emergency session and extraordinary OKI summit will truly meet the expectations of the Muslim community for the protection of the sovereignty of OKI member nations, beginning with saving Palestine so that neighbouring Palestinian nations are also spared from the negative impacts of the Greater Israel project.

“The OKI must strengthen solidarity and real cooperation in the economic, political, and military spheres by forming a common defence alliance among OKI member nations. This is also an opportunity to jointly discuss the crucial role of OKI member nations in the Board of Peace, including regarding the effectiveness of OKI members in the board in stopping genocide, delivering humanitarian aid, achieving peace, and rebuilding an independent Gaza and Palestine, even within a two-state solution framework,” he explained.

“If joint discussions reveal no effectiveness in being part of the Board of Peace because Israel continues to repeat violations that are not stopped by President Trump, then it is time for OKI nations to take concrete action so that their presence on the Board of Peace is not exploited for Israeli colonial interests and used to legitimise Israel’s expanding occupation from Gaza to the West Bank, East Jerusalem (where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located), to the formation of a Greater Israel. Should this be the case, it would be appropriate if the option of withdrawing from membership in the Board of Peace could be considered for implementation,” he concluded.