The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a body that counts half of all African nations among its members, condemned the United States decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel following a summit held in Istanbul on Wednesday.

OIC Secretary General Yousef Al-Othaimeen said the decision announced last week by U.S. President Donald Trump is an act of “downright aggression on the city’s sacrosanct identity and Arab character.”

In its final communiqué, the Summit “held the US administration fully responsible for any repercussions of it refusing to disavow this unlawful decision, taking it as a clear desertion by the US administration of its role as peace broker,” the OIC said in a statement.

Heads of state and high-level government officials at the Extraordinary Islamic Summit also called for “political and economic restrictions” against any states, parliaments, companies or people who support Israel’s action affecting Jerusalem or “engaging in any form with measures aimed at perpetuating Israeli colonization of the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Among the officials in attendance were the presidents of Sudan, Guinea, Comoros and Somalia, as well as Libya’s Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the Presidency Council of the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord. Djibouti Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed also attended, as did Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

“Egypt does not accept that dealing with Jerusalem is outside the scope of international legitimacy, and the Egyptian people will not tolerate any violation of the rights of the Palestinian people,” Shoukry said.

Image: OIC