Qatar, UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia Condemn Israeli Incursions at Al-Aqsa

Foreign ministers from Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia condemned Israeli settler incursions at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and called for the acknowledgement of Jordan's jurisdiction over the holy site.

“Erosion of the status quo at Al-Aqsa, support for settler pogroms, and ignorance of violent crimes: if there is an explosion, it will be orchestrated by Israel alone”

Agence Media Palestine

In a statement posted by Qatar's foreign ministry on social media on Wednesday, the ministers said the incursions, conducted under the protection of Israeli forces, constitute “a clear violation of international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the historical and legal status of the holy sites in occupied East Jerusalem”.

Agence Media Palestine

The same statement rejected Israeli attempts to alter "the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites" and urged recognition of Jordan's historic custodianship of the Al-Aqsa complex.

Middle East Eye also described a proposed arrangement in which, under a plan championed by Jared Kushner and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, the authority of the Jordanian-backed Islamic Waqf would end and a new body created by the Israeli government would declare the Al-Aqsa Mosque a "multi-faith centre".

Middle East Eye added that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that this was the case, but did not affirm Jordan's custodianship.

Sheikh Ekrima Sabri warned that the issue of the call to prayer has been raised again after repeated failed attempts to ban it or reduce its volume, as Israel’s Knesset Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill on Sunday.

Sabri said, “The current attempt to ban the Muslim call to prayer has taken a dangerous turn by legalizing the banning of the call to prayer through issuing a law to prohibit it,” and he added that the occupying power has no right to alter the existing status quo of the occupied territory.

Al-Jazeera Net

The bill approved by the committee would restrict the Muslim call to prayer in East al-Quds and in Arab towns inside occupied Palestinian territories, stipulating that no sound system may be installed or operated in any mosque without a permit.

Itamar Ben-Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) proposed the bill, which would authorize a police officer to demand the immediate cessation of the call to prayer in the event of a violation and allow confiscation of loudspeakers and fines.

Al-Jazeera Net reported that Palestinian condemnations described the bill as a declaration of religious war and said it would legalize a ban on raising the call to prayer in occupied Jerusalem and in Palestinian areas inside the Green Line.

WAFA reported that occupation forces banned the evening call to prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on May 3, 2022, silencing loudspeakers because of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s speech at the Wailing Wall plaza on the occasion of the Jewish holidays.

“Photo: The Tomb of the Patriarchs or Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron, the Occupied West Bank”

France Palestine Solidarité

WAFA also stated that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in occupied Jerusalem and described it as the third holiest site in Islam, while noting it was the first Qibla of Islam before it became toward Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

In the same WAFA dispatch, the Palestinian Information Center said the presidency condemned the ratification of 2,162 new settlement units and cited “72,945 dead and 173,011 wounded since the start of the occupation’s aggression in the Gaza Strip”.

The Palestinian Information Center further said the Israeli police launched a recruitment campaign for its unit in charge of incursions on the Al-Aqsa Mosque esplanade and that an Al-Aqsa guard was arrested after Israel tightened restrictions at the Beit Iksa checkpoint and detained dozens of vehicles.

Against that backdrop, Al-Jazeera Net quoted Mahmoud al-Habbash, the Chief Judge of Palestine and the president's adviser for religious affairs and Islamic relations, calling the bill “a 'declaration of religious war on Islamic holy sites and rituals, and a direct assault on freedom of worship.'”