NNA - The Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) emergency meeting condemned the continuous Israeli attacks on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and called for mobilizing efforts to protect Al-Qods Al-Sharif.

The meeting, held on Tuesday at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, comes upon the request of the State of Palestine and the Kingdom of Jordan in coordination and consultation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the current chair of the Islamic Summit and the chair of the Executive Committee to discuss recent developments in Al-Qods and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Saudi Permanent Representative to the OIC, Dr. Saleh Hamad Al-Suhaibani, affirmed that the continuous Israeli attacks on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the brotherly Palestinian people constitute a provocation to the feelings of millions of Muslims and fuel conflict, extremism and instability in the region, in addition to being a flagrant violation of relevant international resolutions. 

"What happened a few days ago in Al-Quds Al-Sharif, in terms of storming the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli extremists, whatever their capacity, cannot be seen in isolation from the events that took place two decades ago when a senior Israeli official did the same thing, which led to the killing of hundreds of Palestinian brothers following the outbreak of the second intifada," said Al-Suhaibani.

He added, "In this sense, we affirm that such serious negative developments urge the international community to quickly resolve the current situation to avoid conflicts and confrontations in the region and warn the Israeli occupation authorities against changing the existing historical and legal status in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Al-Suhaibani reiterated the Kingdom's firm position on the need to provide full protection for Al-Aqsa Mosque and stop serious violations and provocations.

"The Kingdom holds the Israeli authorities fully responsible for any results or repercussions regarding the provocative policies and practices they adopt in the city of Al-Qods, which ultimately undermine international peace efforts and contradict international principles and norms of respect for religious sanctities."

Al-Suhaibani said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia renews, in this regard, its constant emphasis on the centrality of the Palestinian cause to the Arab and Islamic nations and affirms its full and continuous support for the Palestinian people and their just cause.

He stressed that the Kingdom supports all efforts aimed at reaching a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue to enable the Palestinian people to establish their independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative.

He pointed out that the Kingdom's permanent support for the brotherly Palestinian people stems from its profound belief in the importance of the just Palestinian cause and recognition that its efforts towards this issue are a duty dictated by its firm belief, conscience, and affiliation with its Arab and Islamic nation.

"The Kingdom calls for the necessity of concerted and intensified international efforts to end this protracted conflict to promote the stability of the entire region," Al-Suhaibani stressed.

He stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the president of the Islamic Summit and the Executive Committee, hopes that this meeting will come out with a unified Islamic position within the OIC framework and in coordination and integration with active regional and international organizations to stop the Israeli aggression and violations against Islamic sanctities.

For his part, the OIC Secretary-General, Hissein Ibrahim Taha, affirmed that the Israeli attacks against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque are an offense against the feelings and beliefs of Muslims around the world, as well as a flagrant violation of international law and UN resolutions. In his speech at the meeting, the Secretary-General confirmed that these attacks would fuel violence and tension and destabilize security and stability in the region. 

The Secretary-General called for a responsible international action that compels Israel to stop these serious violations in order to preserve the existing historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque as a place of worship for Muslims alone.

Hissein Taha stressed that the Israeli occupation is taking measures aimed at changing the geographical and demographic situation in the occupied Al-Quds, obliterating its Arab-Muslim identity, and attacking its Islamic sanctities, especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, by closing its gates, attacking worshipers and preventing them from reaching it, and storming it by extremist settlers and senior Israeli officials under protection of the occupation forces, particularly the provocative visit of the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Hissein Taha explained that he held contacts with international actors through which he conveyed the OIC position in this regard. These contacts included the United Nations and the European Union in order to urge them to exert pressure on Israel to stop its serious violations against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The OIC Secretary-General called for mobilizing and redoubling the OIC's political, economic and media efforts in order to protect the occupied Al-Quds, support the steadfastness of its people in the face of Israeli Judaization schemes and defend the inalienable Palestinian rights.

In turn, the Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to the OIC, Ambassador Maher Al-Karaki, expressed his thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its continuous support of the OIC and its sincere efforts to defend the issues of the Islamic nation, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause and Al-Quds Al-Sharif.

He stressed that the continuous Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque this time bore an official trend, as they were carried out by an extremist Israeli minister known for his hostile and racist record against the Palestinian people.

"Since the occupation of Al-Qods in 1967, the government of the occupying power has not stopped its attempts to prejudice the historical and legal reality existing in the occupied city of Jerusalem and the Christian and Islamic sanctities in the heart of which is the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque," Al-Karaki said.

He stressed that the escalating Israeli incursions aimed at changing the status quo in Al-Aqsa, dividing it temporally and spatially, and imposing colonial sovereignty over it in flagrant violation of international law and the resolutions of international legitimacy.

Al-Karaki pointed out that Israel is also trying to change the historical and legal situation, not only in Al-Aqsa but in the entire city of East Jerusalem and its old town through a systematic policy imposed by the current, most extreme Israeli government, to Judaize the city, desecrate its sanctities, and obliterate its identity and demographic, historical and cultural character.--UNA-OIC

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