Monitoring Desk
CAIRO: Several leaders and senior officials from Islamic and Arab nations on Sunday condemned recent Israeli activities in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, where violence has increased between Israel and the Palestinians.
The conference in Cairo was hosted by the Arab League and attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, along with several foreign ministers and senior officials.
The high-level summit came amid one of the deadliest periods of fighting in years in the Palestinian city of Jerusalem and the neighboring Israeli-occupied territory. At least 45 Palestinians have been killed so far this year, according to a count by The Associated Press. Palestinians killed 10 people on the Israeli side during that period.
Speakers at the meeting denounced Israel’s “unilateral measures” in the West Bank and Jerusalem, including home demolitions and expanding Israeli settlements.
The Arab leaders also condemned visits by Israeli officials to Jerusalem’s contested holy site, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews and has often been the epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The officials also supported Jordan’s role as custodian of the third-holiest site in Islam, the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Al-Aqsa mosque was constructed on a hilltop in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount, as it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity.
Arab leaders declare Jerusalem the backbone of Palestinian cause
Calling Jerusalem city the backbone of the Palestinian cause, Egyptian President El-Sisi warned of dire consequences of any Israeli move to change the status quo of the sacred site, saying they would “negatively impact” future negotiations to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He said such measures would impede the long-sought-after two-state solution to the conflict, leaving “both parties and the whole Middle East with difficult and grave options.”
El-Sisi, the country’s first Arab nation to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, called on the world community to “reinforce the two-state solution and create a conducive environment for the resumption of the peace process.”
The secretary-general of the pan-Arab organization, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, also warned that attempts to partition the Al-Aqsa Mosque and obliterate its Islamic and Arab identity “would fuel endless violence and unrest.”
Palestinian president Abbas said his administration would resort to the United Nations (UN) and its agencies and demand a resolution to protect the two-state solution to the conflict.
