Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection
LONDON: Israeli authorities permitted a wedding engagement ceremony for Jewish settlers within the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of East Jerusalem on Monday.
The Palestinian Authority's Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move 'provocative and humiliating,' describing it as a transformation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque into what resembles a public hall for celebrations by extremist settlers.
'(This is) a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the mosque, a serious provocation of the feelings of Muslims, and a deliberate attempt to impose a new reality that erases the Islamic identity of the site and paves the way for its division temporally and spatially,' the Jerusalem Governorate said.
On Monday, settlers, accompanied by Israeli police, toured the Al-Aqsa compound. Police prevented Palestinians from approaching the settlers to disrupt the ceremony, according to the Wafa news agency.
The Jerusalem Governorate said that Israeli policies aim to impose sovereignty on Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that these repeated provocations contradict international law and the 2016 UNESCO resolution, which recognized Al-Aqsa Mosque as an Islamic heritage site and called for its preservation.
Since 1967, the Jerusalem Endowments Council, which operates under Jordan's Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, has been the legal authority responsible for managing and regulating the affairs of Al-Aqsa.
However, this status quo has been challenged in recent years by extremist settlers who regularly tour the site under the protection of Israeli police and are often accompanied by government officials and far-right ministers and activists.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
38 minutes ago
- Arab News
Pakistan calls for international support for Arab League–OIC plan to reconstruct Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad this week called on the international community to support the Arab League's and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) plan to reconstruct Gaza, saying it is essential to lay the foundations of lasting peace in the Middle East. In March, the Arab League ratified its plan to reconstruct Gaza, proposing to rebuild the Palestinian territory without displacing its 2.4 million residents at a cost of $53 billion. Days later the OIC endorsed the plan, which was a counterproposal to a controversial one by US President Donald Trump in which he suggested to take over Gaza and displace its residents. At a UN Security Council briefing on the Middle East, Ahmad urged the Security Council to "act with urgency and clarity" to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. "We call for international support to the Arab League–OIC Plan for Recovery and Reconstruction in Gaza," Ahmad said. "This plan is essential not only for rebuilding Gaza but also for restoring hope and laying the foundation for lasting peace." The Pakistani envoy said Israel must immediately cease its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, adding that a permanent ceasefire must be established without further delay. "Second, the blockade on humanitarian aid must be lifted fully and unconditionally," Ahmad said. "The UN and humanitarian organizations must be granted safe and unimpeded access." Ahmad demanded a "credible and irreversible political process" for the two-state solution in the Middle East, reiterating Pakistan's demand for a separate and independent Palestinian state based on the pre-June 1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. "We support the earliest resumption of the high-level international conference to advance this goal," he said. Israel's military has renewed its focus on Gaza after its 12-day conflict with Iran. The Jewish state's retaliatory military campaign against Hamas has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza since October 2023. Most of the dead are civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable. Pakistan, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, has condemned its war on Gaza since it began in 2023 and has called on the international community to intervene to stop Palestinian civilians from getting killed.
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Saar Renews Israel's Interest in Ties with Syria, Lebanon
Israel is interested in establishing official diplomatic ties with old foes Syria and Lebanon, but will not negotiate the fate of the Golan Heights in any peace agreement, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday. 'We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization, while safeguarding Israel's essential and security interests,' Saar said at a press conference in Jerusalem. 'The Golan will remain part of the State of Israel,' he added. Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 after capturing the territory from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. While most of the international community regards the Golan as occupied Syrian land, US President Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over it during his first term in office. A senior Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Monday that Syria would never give up the Golan Heights, describing it as an integral part of Syrian territory. The official also said that normalization efforts with Israel must be part of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, and not carried out through a separate track. The 2002 initiative proposed Arab normalization with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied territories including the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Gaza. It also called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem, which Israel also captured in 1967, as its capital. Israel's Saar said it was 'not constructive' for other states to condition normalization on Palestinian statehood. 'Our view is that a Palestinian state will threaten the security of the State of Israel,' he said. In May, Reuters reported that Israel and Syria's new rulers had established direct contact and held face-to-face meetings aimed at deescalating tensions and preventing renewed conflict along their shared border. The same month, Trump announced the US would lift sanctions on Syria and met Syria's new president, urging him to normalize ties with Israel.
Al Arabiya
5 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
G7 urges talks to resume for deal on Iran nuclear program
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations said on Monday they supported the ceasefire between Israel and Iran and urged for negotiations to resume for a deal to address Iran's nuclear program, according to a joint statement. Since April, Iran and the US have held talks aimed at finding a new diplomatic solution regarding Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says its program is peaceful, while Israel and its allies say they want to ensure Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon. 'We call for the resumption of negotiations, resulting in a comprehensive, verifiable and durable agreement that addresses Iran's nuclear program,' the G7 foreign ministers said. Last week, Trump announced a ceasefire between US ally Israel and its regional rival Iran to halt a war that began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran. The Israel–Iran conflict had raised alarms in a region already on edge since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023. Before the ceasefire was announced, Washington struck Iran's nuclear sites and Iran targeted a US base in Qatar in retaliation. The G7 foreign ministers said they urged 'all parties to avoid actions that could further destabilize the region.' US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff has said talks between Washington and Tehran were 'promising' and that Washington was hopeful for a long-term peace deal. The G7 top diplomats denounced threats against the head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday, after a hardline Iranian newspaper said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi should be tried and executed as an Israeli agent. On June 12, the UN nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country believed to have nuclear weapons and said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not. The UN nuclear watchdog, which carries out inspections in Iran, says it has 'no credible indication' of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
