The following lines are not the fruit of an overactive imagination or the result of typos. They are taken from a document signed Dec. 13 in Istanbul by leaders of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), among them Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The leaders expressed support for an “independent and sovereign Palestinian State on the borders of 4 June 1967,” and reaffirmed their “attachment to the just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution with east Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine … consistent with … the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative adopted by the Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference in 2005 as a strategic choice.” According to their resolution, US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel thus violates “the foundations of the peace process that stipulate that City of Al-Quds Al-Sharif as a final status issue …”

In addition to the protest against US President Donald Trump’s controversial Jerusalem declaration, the leaders decided to ratify the OIC support for the Arab Peace Initiative, which promises normalization of ties with Israel in return for a withdrawal to its 1967 borders. Along with a tirade against “colonialism, settlement, apartheid and the ethnic cleansing it has been practicing in the occupied Palestinian territory in 1967,” the communique of the Istanbul summit recognizes Israel within the borders that existed before it occupied the West Bank 50 years ago.

In 2005, when the OIC voted in favor of the Arab Peace Initiative, Iran abstained. As of now, Iran is a signatory of a summit communique and detailed summit resolutions directly pertaining to two states — Israel and Palestine — as the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and declaring East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. The term “East Jerusalem” — as opposed to Israel’s insistence on a united Jerusalem that includes its western and eastern sections — appears in the official summit documents no fewer than seven times. There was good reason Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the summit host, declared its resolution “historic.”

Paradoxically, while the Saudi crown prince seems to be disowning the Arab initiative sponsored since 2002 by his own country, by presenting to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the "Trump peace plan," Iran is publicly accepting it. Rouhani’s support of the Arab Peace Initiative obviously does not stem from any special love for Israel. An intelligence researcher told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the position presented by Rouhani in Istanbul coincides with the increasingly spreading protest in Iranian streets against the large budgets fueled by Iran to Syria, to Hezbollah and to Gaza-based terror groups. He claims that Rouhani objects to the adventurous diplomatic policy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, under the leadership of Qasem Soleimani. The source recalled that it was Rouhani who led to the signature of the Iran nuclear deal with the world powers, which subsequently reduced sanctions against Iran.