The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, and the African Union Commission affirm the central status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, as well as the established religious rights and the eternal bond of Muslims with the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the first of the two qiblas and the third of the two holy sanctuaries.
They also express their strong condemnation of the continued closure by the Israeli occupation of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslim worshippers, especially during the blessed month of Ramadan, which constitutes a grave violation of the existing historical and legal status quo in the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the occupied city of Jerusalem, an assault on the established religious rights and heritage of the Islamic nation, a provocation to the feelings of Muslims throughout the world, and a violation of freedom of worship and the sanctity of holy places.
Israel, the occupying power, bears full responsibility for the consequences of these illegal and provocative measures, and they warn that their continuation portends an escalation of violence and tension and threatens to undermine regional and international peace and security.
They reaffirm that Israel, the occupying power, has no sovereignty over the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including the occupied city of Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine, and they categorically reject all its illegal decisions and measures aimed at altering its geographic and demographic status and its Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, and at undermining Palestinian sovereignty and presence in it. They also stress that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, with its area of 144 dunums, is a place of worship exclusively for Muslims.
They call on the international community, in particular the UN Security Council, to assume its responsibilities in obliging the Israeli occupation authorities to respect the right to freedom of worship, to preserve and protect the existing historical and legal status of the holy places, to reopen immediately the gates of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, to lift all restrictions imposed on the access of Palestinian citizens to the occupied city of Jerusalem, and to guarantee the exercise of their established religious rights there and the preservation of its landmarks, heritage and cultural identity, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 252 of 1968, 267 of 1969 and 476 of 1980.
They also affirm their firm position in support of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them their right to freedom, self-determination, and the establishment of their independent and sovereign state on the June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, renewing their support for international efforts aimed at implementing the two-state solution as a strategic option to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the region.
