Khaberni - The chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Palestine, Deputy Suleiman Al-Saud, emphasized the necessity of intensifying parliamentary and international diplomatic efforts to protect the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and stop the escalating Israeli violations against it.
Al-Saud's comments came during a remote conference via Zoom, organized by the Parliamentary Committee for Palestine in cooperation with the "Parliamentarians for Jerusalem and Palestine" association, under the title: "The Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Ramadan: Political, Legal, and Repercussions", with the participation of about 200 parliamentarians from several countries, where the participants discussed developments related to the measures and restrictions imposed on Al-Aqsa Mosque during the blessed month of Ramadan.
Al-Saud stressed the importance of supporting the Hashemite custodianship of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem as a fundamental pillar for maintaining the historical and legal status quo in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The conference was chaired by the head of the association, Hamid Al-Ahmar, with participation from Abbas Zaki, a member of the Palestinian National Council, Mishahd Hussain, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Pakistani parliament, and Hassan Turan, chairman of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Committee in the Turkish parliament, alongside representatives from the parliaments of Tunisia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mauritania, and Morocco.
In his intervention, Al-Saud affirmed that the ongoing violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city of Jerusalem require the unification of parliamentary and popular efforts to defend the holy sites, emphasizing the illegitimacy of the occupation and rejection of all its practices, as well as praising the firm Jordanian position supporting the Palestinian cause, and the role played by the Hashemite custodianship in protecting the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
Al-Saud called for intensifying international movements to reopen Al-Aqsa Mosque for worshipers and to stop the Israeli measures, proposing the organization of an annual global parliamentary day for Jerusalem to unify international parliamentary efforts in defense of the holy city and its sanctities.
At the end of the conference, the participants issued a joint statement condemning the Israeli measures represented in the closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the prevention of worshipers from performing the Friday and Tarawih prayers during Ramadan, in addition to prohibiting I'tikaf in the last ten days, considering this a flagrant violation of the freedom of worship and of international law and treaties that guarantee the protection of religious sanctities.
The statement affirmed that these measures represent a dangerous precedent since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, and are part of a systematic policy aimed at reducing the Palestinian presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque and expanding settler incursions, paving the way for imposing time and space partition plans.
The participants also rejected the pretexts presented by the occupation under the names "public safety" or state of emergency, affirming that these are used as a political cover to impose Israeli sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque and undermine the historical role of the Jordanian Islamic Waqf in its management.
The statement stressed that the entire space of Al-Aqsa Mosque is a pure place of worship for Muslims, and that the Israeli occupation holds no sovereignty over Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites, and affirmed the importance of the historical Hashemite custodianship and the role of the Jordanian Islamic Waqf Department as the legal entity responsible for managing the mosque and organizing entry to it.
The participants called for intensifying parliamentary and diplomatic movements regionally and internationally to stop the violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque and ensure freedom of worship in it, in addition to supporting the launch of a global day for the protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and adopting the proposal of holding a global parliamentary day for Jerusalem annually in the last ten days of Ramadan.
