AMMAN — The Arab Ministerial Committee tasked with international action to counter illegal Israeli policies and measures in occupied Jerusalem on Monday condemned escalating Israeli violations at Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif and called for intensified international pressure to protect the city’s historical and legal status quo.

 

The committee, chaired by Jordan, held its 11th meeting at the Arab League’s General Secretariat in Cairo on the sidelines of the 166th Ordinary Session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the ministerial level.

 

The committee is chaired by Jordan and comprises Iraq, current President of the 34th Arab Summit, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, the Arab non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Somalia, UN Security Council member, alongside the secretary-general of the Arab League, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

 

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi chaired the meeting and briefed members on ongoing Israeli violations and measures in Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

 

Safadi highlighted efforts to counter attempts to alter the city’s historical and legal status quo and its Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, while reaffirming Jordan’s continued efforts to protect the holy sites and preserve their status quo under the historic Hashemite Custodianship.

 

The committee also heard a briefing from Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Varsen Aghabekian Shahin on what she described as systematic Israeli policies targeting the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem.

 

Shahin cited annexation, settlement expansion, land confiscation, home demolitions, forced displacement, identity card revocations, changes to Palestinian educational curricula, the closure of Palestinian institutions and efforts to undermine UNRWA, in addition to escalating incursions into Al Aqsa Mosque and attempts to alter the city’s legal and historical status quo.

 

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the committee condemned the Israeli “unprecedented” escalation and violations against Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif and its Islamic identity.

 

It also condemned Israeli measures aimed at altering the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites, including attempts to impose a spatial and temporal division of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif.

 

The committee strongly condemned repeated incursions by Israeli ministers, officials and settlers under protection of occupation forces, as well as “provocative and racist rhetoric, the distribution of leaflets and books for Jewish prayer, the performance of Talmudic prayers and rituals, and the raising of Israeli flags inside Islam’s third holiest site.

 

It also denounced restrictions imposed by Israel, the occupying power, on Muslim worshippers seeking to access Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, including closures, checkpoints, physical assaults and geographic and age restrictions.

 

The committee further condemned what it described as obstruction of the Jordan-run Jerusalem Awqaf and Aqsa Affairs Department’s daily maintenance and restoration work at the mosque.

 

The committee rejected Israeli measures targeting Jerusalem’s historic Christian presence, citing the seizure of land belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Silwan, attacks by extremist settlers against churches, monasteries, clergy, nuns and worshippers, and restrictions affecting Christian properties and access to holy sites.

 

It also condemned restrictions on worshippers allowed to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during religious holidays, as well as restrictions on issuing and renewing entry permits for West Bank teachers and staff working in church schools in occupied Jerusalem.

 

The committee called for practical political, diplomatic and economic measures against any country that recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, relocates its embassy there or takes steps that undermine the city’s legal status.

 

It also condemned Israeli measures aimed at changing the demographic composition and historical and religious character of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

 

The members said that such practices violate international law, relevant international resolutions and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, which affirmed the need to end the Israeli occupation and rejected the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory.

 

The committee strongly condemned the Israeli occupation authorities’ issuance of tenders for 1,234 settlement units under the “E1” settlement plan east of occupied Jerusalem.

 

The statement said that the project would sever geographic contiguity between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and undermine the prospects for an independent, viable and geographically contiguous Palestinian state.

 

The committee also condemned escalating extremist settler violence and systematic attacks against Palestinians, their property, land and holy sites.

 

It reaffirmed that Israel has no sovereignty over Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy sites and that East Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine.

 

The committee rejected any attempt to undermine Palestinian sovereignty over the city or take unilateral measures affecting its legal status.

 

Members of the committee stressed the need to implement UN resolutions on the Palestinian issue, particularly Security Council resolutions 252 (1968), 267 (1969), 476 and 478 (1980), and 2334 (2016), as well as decisions by UNESCO’s Executive Board and World Heritage Committee.

 

They noted that these decisions affirm that the entire 144-dunum compound of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif is an exclusive place of worship for Muslims and forms part of a World Heritage site threatened by Israeli practices.

 

The committee also reaffirmed the importance of the historic Hashemite Custodianship over Jerusalem’s Arab, Islamic and Christian holy sites in protecting the sites, preserving their identity and maintaining the historical and legal status quo.

 

It stressed that the Jerusalem Awqaf and Aqsa Affairs Department, affiliated with Jordan’s Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, has exclusive jurisdiction over the administration of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif and the regulation of access to it.

 

The committee agreed to strengthen coordination with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to advance joint Arab-Islamic efforts to protect occupied Jerusalem.

 

As part of those efforts, it agreed to hold a joint OIC-Arab League ministerial meeting on Jerusalem during the High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly in New York this month.

 

The committee also agreed to intensify efforts to press the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to assume its responsibilities and take a firm position requiring Israel, as the occupying power, to end its violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.

 

It also agreed to continue mobilising international pressure against attempts to alter the historical and legal status quo at Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, including through greater engagement with regional and international organisations to document Israeli violations in Jerusalem and its holy sites and alleged breaches of international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.

 

The committee was established under Arab League Ministerial Resolution 8660 of May 11, 2021, following Israeli aggression against occupied Jerusalem and its residents, including Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif and the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

 

It is tasked with engaging permanent members of the UN Security Council and other influential international actors on developments in Jerusalem.