AMMAN, Jordan: Arab and Islamic countries on Wednesday agreed to launch a joint action to mobilise an effective international response to halt Israel’s “illegitimate” policies, measures and practices in occupied Jerusalem, calling for global efforts to compel Israel to respect the historic and legal status quo at the city’s holy sites.
The decision was announced in a joint statement adopted at a ministerial meeting in Amman attended by foreign ministers and representatives from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Somalia, Palestine, Pakistan, Turkiye, Indonesia and Malaysia, along with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States.
Arab and Islamic foreign ministers convened in Jordan to discuss the dangerous and unprecedented Israeli escalation in the occupied city of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites, and to launch joint action to confront all illegitimate Israeli measures that are driving the region towards further conflict, the joint statement stated.
The ministers discussed developments in Jerusalem and its holy sites as they sought to adopt a unified position against Israel’s policies and actions.
The Arab and Islamic countries agreed to establish a sustainable institutional mechanism, including a media platform, to document Israeli violations at the holy sites and mobilise international support against measures that threaten regional peace and stability.
The Statement Adopted at the Ministerial Meeting in Support of Jerusalem and its Holy Sites pic.twitter.com/BYR5EVlbn4
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) August 5, 2026
The participants condemned Israeli policies and measures aimed at altering the Arab Islamic and Christian identity of occupied Jerusalem and its legal and demographic status, and reject such measures as null and void, without legal effect, and as a flagrant violation of international law and Israel’s obligations as the Occupying Power.
The Arab and Islamic countries reaffirmed that East Jerusalem is part of the occupied Palestinian territory, and that Israel has no sovereignty over it. They reemphasized that East Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine, and that the realisation of a free, independent and sovereign Palestinian State on the lines of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living in security and peace alongside Israel, on the basis of the two-State solution and in accordance with international law, the relevant United Nations resolutions, and the Arab Peace Initiative, is the only path to achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. They reaffirmed the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.
They condemned all Israeli violations at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, all attempts to alter its historic and legal status quo and impose temporal and spatial division, including the escalating incursions by extremist settlers, Israeli ministers and officials, facilitated and protected by the Israeli occupation authorities; the accompanying provocative practices and inflammatory statements; restrictions on access for worshippers to the Mosque and assaults against them; obstruction of the work of the Jerusalem Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department; and the continued illegal excavations beneath the Mosque and in its vicinity.
The participants affirmed that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, with its entire area of 144 dunums, is a place of worship exclusively for Muslims, and that the Jerusalem Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites, is the sole legal authority with exclusive jurisdiction to administer all affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al- Sharif and regulate entry thereto.
Video of the statement by the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 at Ministerial Meeting on the Deteriorating Situation in Occupied East Jerusalem (Amman, 5 August 2026) pic.twitter.com/oh5jxOl2sr
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) August 5, 2026
They condemned Israeli violations targeting Christian holy sites and threatening the historic Christian presence in Jerusalem, including restrictions on access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the observance of religious rites therein; interference in the affairs of churches and restrictions imposed on their institutions and properties; and attacks targeting clergy, worshippers and religious symbols.
They agreed to support the historic Hashemite Custodianship over the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and its role in protecting these holy sites, safeguarding their Arab Islamic and Christian identity, and preserving the historic and legal status quo.
The participants reaffirmed support for the resilience and empowerment of Jerusalemites in confronting challenges and safeguarding their presence in their city, by providing all forms of development assistance and strengthening and protecting Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem.
They recognised the importance of the role of the Al-Quds Committee and its executive arm, the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency, and support all efforts undertaken by the Committee.
The Arab and Islamic countries warn that Israeli attacks against Islamic holy sites in occupied Jerusalem constitute a blatant provocation to the sentiments of around two billion Muslims worldwide, and push towards a religious conflict with repercussions that will extend beyond the region and threaten regional and international peace and security.
They called upon the international community and the Security Council to act immediately to halt all Israel’s illegitimate measures in occupied Jerusalem and its holy sites, which are intensifying within the context of a systematic Israeli policy to entrench the occupation in the city of Jerusalem and throughout the occupied Palestinian territory through settlement expansion, land annexation, the suffocation of the Palestinian economy, the targeting of Palestinian national institutions, the escalating settler terrorism, and the targeting the UNRWA, while Israel’s violations of the Gaza ceasefire agreement continue and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza worsens, thereby undermining the two-State solution and all prospects for achieving a just and comprehensive peace and fuelling tension and conflict in the region.
The Arab and Islamic countries rejected any unilateral decision that violates the legal status of the occupied city of Jerusalem, including the establishment or relocation of diplomatic missions to the city; affirm that such decisions violate international law and relevant United Nations resolutions; and call upon the states concerned to reverse them.
They agreed to launch joint action to mobilise an effective international response to halt these escalatory and illegitimate Israeli practices, measures and policies, and to compel Israel, the Occupying Power, to respect the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites.
The participants also agreed to launch a sustainable, institutional and operational mechanism, including a media platform, to document and expose Israeli violations against the holy sites and worshipers, and to expose their catastrophic repercussions, which are pushing towards a religious conflict and undermining regional and international peace and security, in international organisations and before global public opinion; and provide the necessary support for this mechanism.
The Arab and Islamic countries agreed to call for the convening of a joint ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States during the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next September, to discuss the dangerous Israeli escalation in Jerusalem and its holy sites and ways to confront it.
