The Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has concluded its extraordinary open-ended meeting convened today to discuss the ongoing Israeli attacks on the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque at the request of the State of Palestine and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in coordination and consultation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Chairman-in-Office of the Islamic Summit and Chairman of the Executive Committee , at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah. The Committee is based on the principles and purposes of the Charter of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and reaffirms all resolutions of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation concerning the question of Palestine and al-Quds al-Sharif, as well as the centrality of the question of Palestine, including al-Quds al-Sharif and its holy places for all Islamic ummah, and the eternal connection of Muslims throughout the world in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the first of two qibla and the third of two sacred mosques.
The Committee reaffirms the Arab and Islamic identity of occupied East Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine, and refuses to harm it in any way. Believers and seclusion in the courtyards during the performance of their prayers and rituals, including women and children, led to the injury and arrest of hundreds of them, as well as damage to the Al-Qibli prayer hall, which is an encroachment on the existing legal and historical situation and a serious violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions.
The Committee warns of the consequences of the continued encroachment by the Israeli occupying authorities, their officials and terrorist colonizers on the integrity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, including provocations, ongoing abuses, attacks and serious daily incursions, which is a flagrant violation of international law. and an unprecedented intervention in the existing historical and legal situation, as well as in an attempt to perpetuate the temporal and spatial separation of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. It asserts that the Israeli occupation has no sovereignty over any part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and that Muslim worshipers have the absolute right to pray freely and safely in and around it at any time, without any obstruction or violence.
The Committee holds Israel responsible for the consequences that these dangerous provocative actions of the racist Israeli government will entail, continuing its attempts through systematic brutal attacks, deliberate provocations and repeated incitement to escalate the situation and provoke a religious confrontation with unforeseen consequences, and warns of its consequences for the international peace and security, and calls on the international community, and in particular the UN Security Council, in its capacity as responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security, to assume responsibility and take urgent action to take the necessary measures to contain and stop the dangerous Israeli escalation, and with it and all other illegal and provocative measures and policies affecting the occupied city of Jerusalem and the integrity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, without selectivity or double standards.
The Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation appreciates the position of the countries that have expressed opposition and condemnation of Israel’s provocative and aggressive incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and calls on them to take practical steps, including the imposition of sanctions against the Israeli colonial regime, to stop this practice and all its illegal procedures and policy, and emphasizes the responsibility of participating States. The Geneva Conventions provide that Israel must be held accountable for all its violations of international humanitarian law, whether by its government officials, military forces or extremist colonizers.
The organization pays tribute to the Palestinian people, the people of Jerusalem, resilience in the city of Jerusalem, claiming to stand by their side and support their heroic resilience by all possible means, as well as the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over Al-Quds Al-Sharif and all its holy places, the Old City Jerusalem and its walls, and that all measures taken or planned to be taken by the occupying authorities, Israeli colonial measures aimed at changing the character and legal status of the city or its demographic composition, are null and void.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation confirms the Jordanian Hashemites’ historical custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city of Jerusalem and its role in protecting these holy sites and maintaining their existing legal and historical status, and confirms that the Jerusalem Foundations and the Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department The Ministry of Endowments, Islamic Affairs and Holy Places of Jordan is the body authorized to manage the affairs of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It reaffirms the importance of the role of the Committee on Jerusalem, headed by His Majesty King Mohammed VI of the Kingdom of Morocco, in countering the dangerous policies pursued by the Israeli occupation authorities in Al-Quds al-Sharif to change the identity and legal status of the city, as well as its demographic, cultural and historical composition, appreciating the role played by the Beit Mal al-Quds al-Sharif agency.
The Committee calls on the member states of the organization and the general secretariat of the organization to take urgent measures to counter these serious attacks and to activate the mechanisms provided for in its relevant resolutions, to act at all levels and send urgent messages to the relevant international bodies, including the Security Council, reflecting the position of the organization in this regard and emphasizing the need for international protection for the Palestinian people and the occupied city of Al-Quds Al-Sharif and its shrines, especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, in the face of illegal attempts to change the current legal and historical situation.
It also stresses the importance of continued coordination and cooperation between the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the League of Arab States and the African Union in order to protect the occupied city of Jerusalem from systematic Israeli policies and attacks, and calls on the group of ambassadors of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to move and transmit the content of this statement to the capitals of influential countries in the world, and also calls on the groups of Islamic organizations in the relevant international organizations to move forward and initiate the necessary consultations and measures to counter and stop the systematic Israeli attacks on the occupied city of Jerusalem, reaffirming that it continues to monitor all developments related to the Holy City of Jerusalem, in particular the mosque Al-Aqsa, and take appropriate steps in this regard, as provided for in the decisions of the Islamic Summits and Councils of Foreign Ministers.