Cairo, October 01 (QNA) - The General Secretariat of the League of Arab States has condemned in the strongest terms the storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque by more than 1,300 Israeli settlers amid the ongoing escalation in occupied Jerusalem. It denounced the public performance of religious rituals and prayers in the mosque's courtyards under the protection of Israeli occupation police, as well as restrictions imposed on Palestinian worshippers and obstruction of their access to the site.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the General Secretariat said the growing scale and frequency of these incursions, along with practices aimed at imposing religious rituals inside the mosque, constitute a flagrant violation of its sanctity. It described the actions as a systematic attempt to alter the established historical and legal status quo and impose new realities on the ground that pave the way for the temporal and spatial division of the mosque. The Secretariat held the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the escalation and its repercussions for regional security and stability.
The statement rejected provocative remarks by the Israeli Minister of National Security regarding occupied Jerusalem, stressing that Israeli claims of sovereignty over the city and its holy sites do not change its legal status as occupied territory or diminish established Palestinian rights there.
It said the combination of these statements and the escalating incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque reflects efforts to impose Israeli control over holy sites and undermine the historical and legal status quo. It warned of the dangers posed by such rhetoric and the attacks and violations it incites.
The statement called on the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to take practical and urgent measures to halt these attacks, ensure freedom of worship and access for worshippers to Al-Aqsa Mosque, protect holy sites, and hold those responsible for violations accountable. It urged the international community to move beyond statements of condemnation toward effective action to prevent such violations from continuing.
The statement reaffirmed the Arab League's unwavering support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in occupied Jerusalem and its rejection of all attempts to alter the city's Arab-Palestinian character. It emphasized that East Jerusalem is an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967 and the capital of the State of Palestine. (QNA)