Only days after the Albania joined in the celebration of the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, a unilateral move of the Trump administration that has been met with indignation all over the world, Albania has joined 56 of its fellow Organisation of Islamic Cooperation members in condemning the decision of the US government for the de facto acknowledgement of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and the recent violence in Gaza.
The extraordinary OIC summit was called on May 18, 2018, by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in response to the inauguration of the American embassy in Jerusalem and the latest developments in Palestine.
The Albanian government took part in the summit, but decided to represent itself in the lowest possible level, through the Albanian ambassador to the OIC, Genti Gazheli.
In the summit declaration, co-signed by Albania, the OIC said:
[We] reiterate our rejection of the illegal decision of the President of the United States to recognize Al-Quds as the so-called capital of Israel, the occupying power;
[We] declare that these acts constitute savage crimes committed by the Israeli
forces with the backing of the U.S. Administration, including through shielding the Israeli occupation in the UN Security Council from accountability;[We] consider [the inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Al-Quds] an act of provocation […], that further emboldens Israel, the occupying power, to step up its illegal and criminal actions against the Palestinian people.
The declaration asked OIC members to:
Condemn the inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Al-Quds and consider it an act of provocation and hostility against the Muslim Ummah, Palestinian national rights and flagrant violations of international law […]
[…] take the appropriate political, economic and other measures against countries which recognize Al-Quds as the capital of Israel or relocate their embassies thereto.
[…] take all necessary steps to prevent other countries from following the illegal U.S. example by transferring their embassies to Al-Quds […]
Reaffirm our position that Al-Quds shall remain the eternal capital of Palestine and that the inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Al Quds neither alters the legal status of the occupied City, nor legitimizes its illegal annexation by Israel, the occupying power.
The declaration also stresses that peace between Israel and Palestine cannot be reached until the Israeli occupation of Eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip ceases, and the Palestinians are free in their homeland.
For the second time in a row, Albania has decided to support Turkish president Erdoğan, in opposition to the American president. Our country voted for the symbolic recognition of Eastern Jerusalem as capital of Palestine, in December 2017, along with 56 members of the world’s largest pan-islamic organization, which includes some of the world’s most autocratic regimes.
The flip-flopping of the Albanian government, trying to appease both the US and Turkish governments, clearly shows the lack of a political vision on the region and the right solution to conflict in the Middle East. Instead, its actions show its most opportunistic side.
