Israeli settlers’ storming of Islam’s holy website fuels ‘hatred’ and obstructs lasting peace, joint assertion says.
Eight Arab and Muslim-majority nations have strongly condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem by far-right teams and 1000’s of Israeli settlers.
In a joint assertion issued on Thursday, the overseas ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and the United Arab Emirates denounced the “mass incursions by settlers led by extremist Israeli ministers into the Noble Sanctuary” of Al-Aqsa.
The diplomats underscored that the storming of Islam’s third-holiest website befell below the safety of Israeli police forces.
“These provocative actions gas hatred and extremism, and impede efforts to advance a simply and lasting peace on the idea of the two-State resolution,” the assertion mentioned, calling the escalation “an illegal try to change the historic and authorized established order” of the holy websites in Jerusalem.
“Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy websites,” it mentioned.
Greater than 4,200 Israeli settlers and members of far-right teams stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Thursday, one of many largest incursions this 12 months, to mark the Jewish vacation of Tisha B’Av.
Israel’s far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir additionally entered the site below heavy police safety.
Palestinian officers mentioned Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions on the mosque’s gates, barred massive numbers of Palestinian worshippers and college students from coming into, and assaulted a number of individuals.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and formally annexed it in 1980. In 2024, the Worldwide Court docket of Justice dominated that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory, together with East Jerusalem, is prohibited.
Beneath the established order, the Jerusalem Waqf, a Jordanian-appointed physique, manages the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Thursday marked the Jewish day of mourning, Tisha B’Av, that commemorates the destruction, twice, of an historical Jewish temple, in keeping with spiritual custom, believed to have stood on the website identified to Muslims as Al-Aqsa and to Jews because the Temple Mount.
The joint assertion on Thursday denounced “the unlawful and extremist acts represented by incitement and calls to mobilise incursions, in addition to acts of violence dedicated by Israeli ministers and extremist teams”.
The assertion referred to as on Israel, “because the occupying energy, to instantly carry the restrictions” imposed on entry to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It additionally referred to as on the worldwide neighborhood “to take a agency stance obligating Israel to stop its ongoing violations and unlawful practices in opposition to the Islamic and Christian holy websites in Jerusalem, and its violations of the sanctity of those holy websites”.
