Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations (UN) Security Council has called an emergency meeting on Thursday (today) on a request of Palestinian authorities, other Islamic countries and non-Islamic nations after an ultranationalist Israeli minister visited Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, a holy site revered by Muslims. Christians and Jews but also a flashpoint between Israeli and Palestine.
Tuesday’s visit by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a West Bank leader who draws inspiration from the racist rabbi to the site known to Jews as a Temple Mount and to the Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, drew fierce condemnation from the Muslim world, a strong rebuke from the US, and fueled fears of unrest as Palestinian threatened to act in response.
Palestinian ambassador to UN
Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour after meetings with Arab states’ ambassadors, and representatives of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said that the 120-member Nonaligned Movement and others condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit, which is causing an “environment of extremism” surrounding the extremist government in Israel’s history.
He accused Israel of committing “aggression” not only against Muslim Holy sites, including the Aqsa Mosque but also against Christian sites including graveyards.
Mansour, who was flanked by ambassadors from about 20 states, said that at Thursday’s emergency Security Council meeting, also supported by the United Arab Emirates, China, Malta, and France, “we would not be satisfied only with “beautiful statements”.
He said that “we want them to be implemented in a concrete way, we want this behaviour not to be repeated at Al-Aqsa Mosque and also at Al-Haram Al-Sharif. We want guarantee of honouring and respecting the historical status quo in deeds, not only in words”.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political and Peace-building Affairs Khaled Khiare would brief the Security Council at Thursday’s meeting, UN spokesman Stepane Dujarric said.
Jordanian ambassador to the UN
Jordan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Mahmoud Hmoud said that his state, whose ruler King Abdullah II is the custodian of the Islamic and the Christian Holy sites, was extremely concerned at the incursion by Ben-Gvir and the Israeli government.
