Threat level raised for Masjid Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem to unprecedented
As many as 14 Arab and Palestinians institutions and organizations, citing escalating Israeli violations, have raised the threat level for Masjid al-Aqsa and Occupied Jerusalem to ‘unprecedented’
[Masjid al Aqsa in Jerusalem is the third most holiest mosque for Muslims. (File image)]
Occupied Jerusalem: As many as 14 Arab and Palestinians institutions and organizations, citing escalating Israeli violations, have raised the threat level for Masjid al-Aqsa and Occupied Jerusalem to ‘unprecedented’.
Warning of the unprecedented Israeli escalation targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalemites, and the city's Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, the institutions and organizations in their appeal called for an urgent joint action.
“The latest measures taken by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IDF) seek to create new realities on the ground and consolidate control by force”, the Arab and Palestinian groups said as reported by Ankara based Anadolu Ajansı.
"Statements and condemnations alone are no longer sufficient," they said, calling for a coordinated, sustained and meaningful action before the latest developments in Jerusalem become irreversible.
One of the three holiest sites for Muslims
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
The appeal said Jerusalem, also revered by Christians, is facing one of the most critical periods in its modern history, citing increased incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Israeli occupiers under the protection of Israeli forces, along with efforts to impose a temporal and spatial division of the mosque.
It also cited attacks on worshippers, exclusion orders against religious and national figures, the targeting of Al-Aqsa guards, and restrictions on freedom of worship, saying such measures aim to alter the historic and legal status quo at the holy site.
Israel’s Expansionist Agenda
The Arab and Palestinian groups in their appeal said Israeli policies in Jerusalem also include home and property demolitions, forced displacement, residency revocations, settlement expansion, excavation work around Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City, and attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites.
It warned that these policies also threaten Jerusalem's longstanding Christian presence through restrictions on Christian institutions and religious figures, as well as attempts to alter the city's historic and pluralistic character.
The signatories called for urgent international political, legal and human rights initiatives to halt violations targeting Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalemites, ensure accountability, and prevent illegal actions from becoming normalized.
The appeal was issued by several institutions, including the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, Al-Quds International Institution, Arab National Congress, European Palestinian Conference and Islamic National Conference.
Concrete steps needed for protection of Jerusalem
The appeal also urged Jordan, as the custodian of Jerusalem's Islamic and Christian holy sites, to use its diplomatic standing to mobilize an effective international response that protects the holy sites and prevents the imposition of new realities in the city.
"Jerusalem is not a temporary political issue, but a shared historic, cultural, religious and humanitarian responsibility," the appeal said, adding that the city needs concrete steps to protect its people, heritage and holy sites.
Israeli forces conduct near-daily military raids across the occupied West Bank, frequently carrying out arrests and attacks against Palestinians and their property.
“Very Dangerous”
On Thursday last, around 3,000 Israeli occupiers who were led by Israel’s extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, to mark the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, and to commemorate what they call the “destruction of the temple”, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.
Taking note of the incident, the United Nations in a statement issued on the same day said that the raid by the Israeli minister, accompanied by extremist groups, on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem was "very dangerous" for the status quo of Jerusalem's holy sites.
"There is a status quo regarding the holy sites of Judaism, Christianity, and, of course, Islam in Jerusalem. It is incumbent that status quo be respected," spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a news conference when asked about the raid.
"It is incumbent on the Israeli authorities to ensure that it is respected, and that the faithful of all religions are able to interact with those sites, their own sites, in a free manner," he said, stressing that "these sorts of activities that we saw today are very dangerous for that status quo."
“Settler Gangs”
The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also condemned the raid led by officials of the extremist Israeli occupation government, accompanied by “more than 3,000” settler gangs, into the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque under heavy protection from occupation forces, coinciding with the so-called “anniversary of the destruction of the Temple”.
“It is a flagrant and brazen violation of the historical and legal status quo in Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and as a provocation against the sentiments of Muslims, the peoples of the world, and all believers”, the OIC said.
The General Secretariat affirmed that this provocation—along with the accompanying calls and mobilization to increase the unprecedented numbers of extremist settler intruders into Al-Aqsa Mosque amid heightened military measures and the prevention of worshippers from accessing it, as well as the performance of “Talmudic rituals” during their incursions—including the so-called “epic prostration” and the loud chanting of hymns—constitutes a real threat that contributes to fueling and igniting religious conflict in the region.
The General Secretariat emphasized that these incursions are part of the Israeli occupation’s systematic policy aimed at imposing a fait accompli by force and undermining the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, in preparation for entrenching temporal and spatial division, as part of the effort to Judaize Jerusalem and the holy sites.
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