JEDDAH, 9 January 2005 — The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has denounced the Israeli refusal to allow an OIC mission to visit Palestinian territories in order to monitor the presidential elections there.
In a statement, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the Israeli measure was incompatible with its announced readiness to facilitate all process of the elections to be held today.
He urged the international community to intervene in order to put an end to such practices perpetrated by the Israeli authorities against the interests of the Palestinian people and its National Authority.
The statement explained that the secretary-general had decided to dispatch the mission to participate in efforts to monitor the elections in response to the invitation by the Palestinian National Authority.
It added that all the necessary information was conveyed to the concerned parties one month before the elections in order to secure the entry of the OIC delegation members to the PNA territories to carry out their mission. The Israeli occupation authorities thwarted the mission by not giving its consent.
The mission to the West Bank headed by Ambassador Saad Eddin Taib, adviser to the secretary-general, and including seven observers, was to leave Jeddah on Wednesday. The secretary-general was also sending Ambassador Abdulaziz Abu Ghush, director of coordination with Palestine, as his special envoy on this occasion.
