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 hundreds 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 happened underneath the safety of Israeli police forces.
“These provocative actions gasoline hatred and extremism, and hinder efforts to advance a simply and lasting peace on the premise of the two-State resolution,” the assertion stated, 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 stated.
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 underneath heavy police safety.
Palestinian officers stated Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions on the mosque’s gates, barred massive numbers of Palestinian worshippers and college students from getting 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 unlawful.
Underneath 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 historic 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 right away carry the restrictions” imposed on entry to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It additionally referred to as on the worldwide group “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”.
