Israel’s crimes stoke violence, instability: OIC
ISTANBUL (AA) – The head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has warned that Israel’s crimes in occupied East Jerusalem feed violence, tension and instability in the region.
“Al-Quds (Jerusalem) is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory,” Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said in a speech to an extraordinary meeting of the OIC Executive Committee called to discuss the Israeli escalation in the occupied territories on Saturday.
Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque “is an exclusive place of worship for Muslims,” he stressed.
Tension escalated across the Palestinian territories in recent days after Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem and forcibly removed worshippers for two nights in a row, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Israeli raids on the mosque triggered rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Most of these were intercepted by the Israeli air defense system, or landed in uninhabited open spaces.
However, Israel retaliated with massive airstrikes on Gaza.
The OIC chief held Israel fully responsible for “the implications of these dangerous crimes and violations which are capable of stoking violence, tension, instability, and insecurity in the region.”
“All Israeli decisions and policies aimed at altering the geographical, demographical standing of the city and undermining the historical and legal status of its holy sites are of no legal effect, null and void under international law and relevant United Nations resolutions,” he added.
Palestinians complain of Israel systematically and relentlessly working to “Judaize” East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located. With sprawling illegal Jewish settlements taking over as Palestinian homes are razed to the ground with targeted demolitions, Palestinians feel that the ultimate aim is to obliterate the region’s Arab and Islamic identity.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third-holiest Islamic site. Jews, on the other hand, claim that it is the ‘Temple Mount’ of ancient times, which housed two Jewish temples.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, a move never recognized by the international community.
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