AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Wednesday said that Israel is entrenching its illegal occupation of East Jerusalem, expanding settlements, annexing lands, confiscating properties, and imposing restrictions on Jerusalemites to isolate the city from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory.

 

Speaking at a ministerial meeting held in Amman to support Jerusalem and its holy sites, Safadi said that Israel continues to violate the sanctity of Islamic and Christian holy sites and restrict freedom of worship for both Muslims and Christians.

 

"Christian clergy are suffering from the savagery of extremism, and churches are confronting attempts to seize their assets and lands through illegal legislation enacted by Israel, in blatant violation of international law, which clearly stipulates that an occupying power has no sovereignty over occupied land," Safadi said.

 

The foreign minister emphasized that Israel’s provocative policies are targeting Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif through unprecedented, systematic attacks that seek to undermine its Islamic identity and alter the historical and legal status quo at the holy site, which is a purely Muslim place of worship.

 

"The Israeli government is implementing its illegal measures in Jerusalem and its holy sites as part of a broader policy to entrench the occupation in the West Bank and kill the two-state solution, the sole path to achieving a just peace," Safadi said.

 

He noted that Israel is pushing the West Bank toward an explosion, violating the Gaza ceasefire, and obstructing implementation of the US president's plan to bring stability to the Strip.

 

Safadi underscored that the Arab-Israeli conflict is not a religious one, but rather stems from Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land and its denial of the Palestinian people's right to freedom and statehood in their historical homeland.

 

He warned that Israel's violations against Al Aqsa Mosque and its attempts to undermine the site's identity are fueling a religious conflict that could trigger calls for a global jihad to protect one of Islam's three holiest sites, serving nearly two billion Muslims worldwide.

 

"This danger will be uncontrollable if it erupts. We sound the alarm and urge the international community to take decisive action to stop Israeli violations in Jerusalem, end policies that entrench the occupation, restore hope for peace, and end the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza," he said.

 

Safadi called on the international community to “act before it is too late, so that Jerusalem, a city sacred to the three monotheistic faiths, can be a city of harmony and a gateway to peace, rather than an arena of oppression.”

 

Addressing participating ministers, Safadi reiterated that sovereignty over Jerusalem is Palestinian, custodianship over its Islamic and Christian holy sites is Hashemite/ Jordanian, and the protection of these sites is a shared Arab, Islamic, and international responsibility.

 

The meeting in Amman brought together foreign ministers of the Arab Ministerial Committee tasked with international action to counter illegal Israeli actions in occupied Jerusalem, alongside the Arab League Secretary General and the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, and Malaysia.

 

The committee comprises Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iraq, Palestine, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, and the Arab League Secretary General.