Turkish diplomat Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, yesterday called on member states of the organization to adopt “clear strategy on defending Al-Quds,” the Arabic name for the Israeli capital of Jerusalem, from Israel. Ihsanoglu’s comments came during a meeting of OIC foreign ministers, conducted in preparation for the upcoming 12th OIC summit. Delegates to the meeting have emphasized that the conference will focus on Israel as a key regional issue. “The Palestinian cause is the cornerstone in order to achieve security and stability in the Middle East and in the world as a whole,” said Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, in between meeting with high-level Egyptian security personnel who are struggling to put down urban street riots targeting Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood-linked government. Syria is deemed unlikely to participate in the debates over Israel that Ihsanoglu and Morsi have called for as the country was suspended from the OIC due to Damascus’s role in the ongoing three-way Syrian proxy war that has seen Shiites and Kurds battling increasingly Islamist Sunni groups supplied by multiple OIC countries.