The foreign ministers condemned the raising of Israeli flags inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa [Getty]
Eight Arab and Muslim-majority countries have issued a statement condemning the rise in Israeli raids on holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
The statement was signed by the foreign ministers of the UAE, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.
The ministers highlighted Israel’s violation of the status quo governing Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and noted the increase in Israeli settlers and extremist ministers entering the Al-Aqsa compound illegally under the protection of the police.
The statement highlighted a recent raid in which Israelis raised flags inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa.
The repeated incursions on one of Islam’s holiest sites “represents an unacceptable provocation to Muslims worldwide and a blatant violation of the sanctity of the holy city”, the statement said, while constituting a flagrant violation of international law.
The ministers said they categorically reject any attempts to alter the historical or legal status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem, adding that it was necessary to protect Christian and Islamic places of worship.
Under the status quo, which Israel said it would recognise when it captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan in 1967, the Muslim character of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is to be preserved, with non-Muslims able to visit but not to perform prayers or religious rituals.
As well as the raids on Al-Aqsa, which have increased in frequency since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, the Arab and Muslim foreign ministers also denounced the rise in illegal settlement activities.
This comes after Israel’s decision in early April to approve over 30 new settlements in the West Bank and an uptick in settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
“These measures constitute a direct and systematic attack on the viability of a Palestinian state…they also fuel tensions, undermine peace efforts and obstruct ongoing initiatives aimed at de-escalation and restoring stability,” the foreign ministers said.
The statement urges the international community to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities and force Israel to stop its “dangerous escalations” and illegal actions in the West Bank.
The latest developments come against the backdrop of widespread Israeli raids and detentions of Palestinians in the West Bank.
On Friday, Israeli forces detained five young Palestinian men in the village of al-Mughayyir, located northeast of Ramallah.
Local sources identified those detained as Ihab Al-Nassan, Adib Al-Nassan, Iyad Al-Nassan, Imad Abu Alia, and Mohammad Abu Alia.
The detentions came after Israeli forces stormed and ransacked their homes and damaged their property.
Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces detained three Palestinians in Nablus early on Friday.
Palestinian security sources said special forces stormed Nablus’s Old City, before military vehicles broke into the town. Israeli forces then ransacked and searched homes in several neighbourhoods.
Two of the Palestinians detained in Nablus have been identified as brothers Ashraf and Abdel Rahim Fakhouri.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, Israeli forces have carried out more than 23,000 detentions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 2023.
