The move represents a prelude to besieging the Old City and cutting it off from its Palestinian surroundings—an attempt to undermine the establishment of a Palestinian state and a flagrant assault on the Palestinian people’s right to independence.
The statement was issued at the 10th meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Jerusalem, held at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo. The Committee is chaired by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It includes Iraq (the current chair of the Arab League Summit), Palestine, Algeria (an Arab member of the United Nations Security Council), Somalia (another Arab member of the Security Council), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and the League’s Secretary-General. The meeting was convened on the sidelines of the 164th regular session of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level.
Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, presented the latest developments on Israeli violations in Jerusalem and reviewed the Committee’s efforts since its previous session in April. He outlined contacts undertaken with member states, influential countries, and international organisations to counter violations targeting the occupied city, its people, and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.
Safadi stressed the urgency of halting these attacks, which coincide with the ongoing aggression against Gaza and the dangerous escalation in the West Bank.
The Committee condemned all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, historical identity, and religious character of Jerusalem, or undermining the status of Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. Members stressed that such practices violate international law, Security Council resolutions, and the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion affirming the need to end the occupation and declaring annexation of occupied Palestinian land invalid.
The Palestinian Foreign Minister, Fareseen Shaheen, briefed the Committee on Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, including settlement expansion, Judaisation campaigns, killings, arrests, deportations, house demolitions, land confiscation, and attempts to erase the Arab identity of Jerusalem.
She warned of unprecedented incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist groups under Israeli protection. These incursions, involving religious rituals and symbols, aim to impose temporal and spatial division at the site, compounded by intensified illegal excavations beneath it.
Shaheen also highlighted the dangers of the E1 settlement plan, which would isolate Jerusalem from its Palestinian environment, fragment the West Bank into cantons, and destroy the prospects of a contiguous Palestinian state. She called for urgent Arab and international action to stop these crimes.
The ministers strongly condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by Israel’s National Security Minister, accompanied by settlers, and his pledge to permit religious rituals, flag-raising, and provocative acts inside the compound. They denounced calls by extremist groups to offer sacrifices there, as well as repeated attempts to do so.
They further condemned Israel’s restrictions on Muslim worshippers, including arbitrary closures, checkpoints, assaults, and age restrictions—particularly during Ramadan, Fridays, and religious occasions.
The Committee also rejected Israeli measures threatening the Christian presence in Jerusalem, citing the freezing of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate’s bank accounts, harassment of clergy and worshippers, and acts of vandalism targeting churches, monasteries, and cemeteries, such as the Church of al-Khader and the historic Christian cemetery in Taybeh.
Ministers reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over Jerusalem and its holy sites, and that East Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine. They stressed that a just and comprehensive peace requires an end to the occupation and the establishment of a sovereign, viable Palestinian state along the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with international law, the Arab Peace Initiative, and relevant UN resolutions.
They reiterated support for UNESCO decisions affirming that the entire 144-dunam Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif is a place of worship for Muslims alone, and an integral part of a threatened World Heritage site.
The ministers underlined the importance of the historic Hashemite custodianship of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites. They affirmed the exclusive authority of the Jordanian-administered Waqf to oversee all affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif.
They also highlighted the role of the Al-Quds Committee and Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency in supporting efforts to protect Jerusalem’s identity and heritage.
The meeting agreed to step up coordination with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and international bodies to document Israeli violations, mobilise global opposition to Israeli policies, and press for measures that deter settler terrorism and ensure accountability for crimes in occupied Jerusalem.
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