Safadi, Arab foreign ministers condemn Israeli break-in at Al Aqsa

AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who is also head of the Arab ministerial committee that is in charge of international action to confront illegal Israeli policies and measures in occupied Jerusalem, has contacted foreign ministers of member states to discuss the latest "dangerous"developments in Jerusalem.

The discussion came after a minister in the Israeli government broke into Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif on Tuesday morning under the protection of Israeli forces.

Safadi contacted foreign ministers of the UAE, Algeria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Morocco, as well as the Secretary-General of the Arab League, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

The members of the committee stressed that the Israeli minister's break-in at Al Aqsa Mosque was a provocative step that is condemned in the strongest terms, and constituted an unacceptable breach of international law and the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites.

Committee members reiterated that this step is a serious escalation that requires the international community, including the UN Security Council,to immediately take effective measures that would oblige Israel, as the occupying power, to cease its aggressions against the Palestinian people and its violations of international law and international humanitarian law, and to refrain from taking any provocative steps in Jerusalem that would undermine the dignity of millions of Muslims around the world and threaten regional security and stability.

Members of the committee also stressed the importance of continuing joint Arab efforts to protect Al Aqsa Mosque as well as other Islamic and Christian holy sites in the occupied city of Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine.

They also highlighted the significance ofsupporting the steadfastness of Jerusalemites in facing Israel's aggressive policies and practices aimed at controlling the city, changing its character and original Arab identity, changing the historical and legal status quo of Al Aqsa Mosque, and imposing the temporal and spatial division on the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Members of the committee also called forsupporting the Hashemite Custodianship of Jerusalem's Islamic and Christian holy sites and their role in protecting its Arab Islamic and Christian identity.

They stressed the need to activate efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace on the basis of international law, relevant United Nations resolutions and the two-state solution that would ensure the establishment of an independent Palestine along the June 4, 1967lines with East Jerusalem as its capital, and to cease all illegal Israeli actions that undermine this solution.

Members of the committee also expressed appreciation for the countries that voiced their rejection and condemnation of Israel's provocative and aggressive incursion into AlAqsa Mosque, affirming their rejection of any alteration to the legal and historical status quo of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and specifically Al Aqsa Mosque.