Middle East Information Resource
Political Entities - Islamic Conference Organization
The Islamic Conference Organization was established in 1969, following the arson of al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest shrine of Islam, by an Australian fundamentalist Christian, Michael Rohan, in August of that year. Its stated purpose is to promote Islamic solidarity and coordinate the efforts to safeguard Islamic holy places, especially those under Israeli control. At the behest of Saudi Arabia`s King, Feisal ibn Abdel Aziz, a conference of Islamic Heads of State was held in Rabat, Morocco that September. The conference was institutionalized as the "The Islamic Conference Organization" (ICO). From the beginning Saudi Arabia assumed leadership and tried to create leverage to promote its regional and international ambitions. The Saudis exploited the common Islamic cause to promote traditionalism at the expense Nasserism, which was already on the decline.
Since 1971 the ICO has been based in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, and funded primarily by the Saudi government. In 1975 the Saudis established al-Quds (Arabic for Jerusalem) Committee to monitor the situation in Jerusalem. The ICO has adopted some resolutions concerning the city of Jerusalem, but has very limited influence on Jerusalem affairs. The organization also proved to be of limited effectiveness in mediation between the Muslim states of Iraq and Iran in 1981. Neither was it in a position to mitigate the Lebanese predicament caused by Palestinian Guerrilla Organizations operating from Lebanese territory.
The Saudi dominance of the ICO tended to prevent it from becomming a vehicle for the Islamic world inn general. Iraq twice boycotted the ICO summit conference, in 1984 at Casablanca and in 1987 at Kuwait city; they were protesting the Saudi support of Iraq in its war with Iran. The Iraqis equated a protest against the ICO with a protest against Saudi Arabia, because of the Saudi domination of the organization. When the Iran-Iraq war had already spilled over to the Gulf as a whole, the summit in Kuwait called for a cease-fire.
The Islamic Conference Organization is an official international institution and it has been of some use to the Islamic world. Since 1994 forty Islamic states and the Palestine Liberation Organization have been members. The ICO helped Egypt regain legitimacy in the Islamic and Arab world after signing a treaty with Israel, by inviting President Mubarak to its summit conferences in 1984 and 1987. King Hasan II of Morocco has played a central role in the organization, in coordination with the Saudi monarchs, particularly as the Head of the Jerusalem Committee.