Foreign ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have warned against the recurrent incursions of Israeli forces and extremist settlers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, denouncing the practice as a violation of international law.
At the conclusion of the 18th extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC member states in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the top diplomats denounced the ongoing Israeli violations and provocations at the sacred site as a “grave breach of the international law and unprecedented tampering with the current historical and legal status quo.”
They also deplored the repeated desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque by far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, other officials of the regime and Knesset (parliament) members, describing such practices as “acts of provocation against the Muslim nation.”
On Wednesday, dozens of Israeli settlers broke into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy protection from Israeli forces.
The extremist settlers, divided into groups, intruded into the site through the Moroccan Gate and provocatively performed rituals and Talmudic prayers.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.
Hardline Israeli officials and settlers regularly storm the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied city, a provocative move that infuriates Palestinians. Such mass break-ins almost always take place at the behest of Tel Aviv-backed temple groups and under the auspices of the Israeli police in al-Quds.
The Jewish visitation of al-Aqsa is permitted, but as part of a decades-old agreement between Jordan – the custodian of Islamic and Christian sites in al-Quds – and Israel in the wake of Israel’s occupation of East al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.
Back in October 2021, an Israeli court upheld a ban on Jewish prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, after an earlier lower court’s decision stirred outrage among various Palestinians and across the Muslim world. Judge of the district court in al-Quds Aryeh Romanov on October 8 confirmed that Jews are barred from worshiping openly at the site, and only Muslims are permitted to pray there.
In May 2021, frequent acts of violence against Palestinian worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque led to an 11-day war between Palestinian resistance groups in the besieged Gaza Strip and the Israeli regime, during which the regime forces killed at least 260 Palestinians, including 66 children.
