OIC final communiqué reaffirms historic Hashemite custodianship over Jerusalem Islamic, Christian holy sites, 1st add

It reaffirmed the central nature of the issue of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif for the Islamic Ummah (nation) and the need to preserve the Arab and Islamic identity of Al-Quds Al-Sharif and Palestinian sovereignty over it as an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and the capital of the State of Palestine.

The communique underlined the need to respect the existing legal and historical status of the holy sites, especially the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Al-Sharif, with its entire area of 144 square meters as an exclusive place of worship for Muslims only.

The communique warned against the escalation of Israeli colonial settlement and the threat of annexation of the occupied Palestinian land and the daily attacks and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army and terrorist settler militias in the West Bank, against unarmed Palestinian citizens, their properties, land and holy sites, with the aim of forcibly displacing them.

It endorsed the legal opinion on the illegality o
f settlements in the Palestinian territories and the need to end the occupation, dismantle all settlements and evacuate all settlers, calling for taking the necessary steps to hold the settlers accountable for their crimes, including imposing sanctions on them, placing them on terrorist lists, and prosecuting them.

It expressed concern about the continuation and intensification of Israel’s brutal crimes and unprecedented violations against thousands of Palestinian prisoners by practicing the crimes of execution, torture, starvation, rape, isolation and enforced disappearances, especially against detainees from the Gaza Strip, which led to the martyrdom of dozens of them.

Source: Jordan News Agency