The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Tuesday strongly
condemned Israeli troops' attack on a Palestinian prison after the British and
U.S. monitors' withdrawal.
In a statement issued in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the Jeddah-based OIC said
the raid by Israeli troops on Jericho prison indicated a brazen breach of the
2002 agreement regarding the status of several West Bank prisons.
The action is a continuation of Israel's practice of calculated and open
defiance of international law and convention, the statement said.
The Israeli action would escalate "violence and extremism" throughout the
world, the OIC said, while calling on the international community to condemn
what it said is Israel's open provocative action and take all necessary measures
to stop such actions.
Meanwhile, the OIC said that the United States and Britain should take full
responsibility for the outcome of the raid because they withdrew their security
forces shortly before the military operation.
The organization also stressed that what happened on the Palestinian soil
resulted from Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and deprival of
Palestinian people's lawful rights, as well as the international community's
failure to take due actions to stop such atrocities.
According to the 2002 agreement, the prison, where some important Palestinian
figures including Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine were held, is under the direct supervision of U.S. and British
warders.
Israeli forces blasted their way into the West Bank prison, and two
Palestinian security officers were killed and 23 other people wounded during the
raid.
It is the most widespread violence since Hamas militants swept parliamentary
elections, and it forced Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to cut short his trip
and return home.