The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) denounced as arbitrary and unlawful the decision by the Israeli occupation authorities to designate six Palestinian civil society groups as "terrorist organizations".

The OIC rejected the charge both as a brazen violation of international humanitarian law and international instruments guaranteeing the right to form civil society organizations and to deliver humanitarian community services and as counterproductive to the peace process.

Further, the OIC stressed the need for full respect of the right of these groups to perform their role, under the Palestinian law and in association with international institutions, to identify, document, and expose Israeli violations, and to defend human rights and deliver humanitarian community services across Palestine.

The OIC called on active international stakeholders to pressurize the Israeli occupation authorities to repeal this grossly unfounded decision.