Cairo: The Arab League affirmed the special status of Jerusalem, holding the Israeli occupation authorities accountable for preserving the safety and sanctity of the sacred sites in the city.
According to Kuwait News Agency, gangs of Jewish settlers persist in desecrating and intruding into Al-Aqsa Mosque and other shrines in Jerusalem, as stated by the League's department of Palestine and other occupied Arab territories on the 56th anniversary of the arson attack on the Mosque. This attack was carried out by Denis Michael Rohan, a Jewish terrorist of Australian descent, on August 21, 1969.
The statement decried the repeated storming of the Mosque, the Muslim's third holiest site, and noted, "The repugnant incursions into Mosque, led by extremist members of the Israeli government under protection of the occupation forces, fall in the framework of the policy of ethnic cleansing against the original residents of the holy city." It further mentioned that this policy aims to erase the Arab and Islamic identity of the city in violation of UN resolutions.
On the anniversary of the arson attack, the statement highlighted that it coincides with a genocidal war against the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation forces are said to destroy all aspects of life in Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank through illegal Jewish settlement expansions and land confiscation.
The statement condemned the recently approved Israeli settlement plan E1, which aims to bisect the occupied West Bank and carve out Jerusalem, undermining the prospects of Palestinian statehood. It called on the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people and the sacred sites, and to force the Israeli occupation to halt the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
The League also praised the struggle of the Palestinian people against colonial designs seeking to Judaize Jerusalem and evict its original residents. It reaffirmed support for the Palestinian people until they achieve independence through the establishment of the state of Palestine within the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.