Sudanese president to attend Istanbul OIC summit on Jerusalem issue

KHARTOUM, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will visit Turkey on Tuesday to take part in an emergency Islamic summit to discuss the Jerusalem issue, official SUNA news agency reported Monday.

Al-Bashir was invited by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who called for the emergency summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss the U.S. recognization of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced last Wednesday that the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital and ordered to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to the disputed holy city.

The move has enraged the Palestinians and the Islamic world, as Jerusalem is revered as the third holiest site in Islam. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future independent Palestinian state.

Israel took over East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and declared the whole city as its eternal capital in 1980, a move never recognized by the international community.

Violent clashes have erupted in the past days between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in the Palestinian territories of Gaza Strip and West Bank. At least two Palestinians have been killed and a large number of others were wounded in the clashes. Enditem