Arab Foreign Ministers slam Israel for measures in Jerusalem

Arab Foreign Ministers strongly condemned on Thursday Israel's measures in East Jerusalem, stressing that the recent Israeli procedures are illegal.

The ministers urged the United Nations Security Council to shoulder responsibility to maintain peace and security and implement its resolutions relating Jerusalem as well as obliging Israel to stop its policies and violations in East Jerusalem, Xinhua news agency reported.

Arab Foreign Ministers held an urgent meeting in Cairo to probe the recent Israeli violations and procedures in East Jerusalem.

The ministers also called on all countries to implement the resolutions of the United Nations and the UNESCO Executive Board on the Palestinian issue, including the Word Heritage Committee of UNESCO which affirmed that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic site dedicated to worship and an integral part of the World Heritage Sites.

Since July 14 attack at the vicinity of the mosque, where three armed Israeli Arabs and two Israeli policemen were killed, Palestinian worshippers had been performing their five-time daily prayers at the gates outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Muslims' third holiest site.

In response, Israel closed the gates that lead to the mosque for three days and then decided to install electronic gates and cameras at the gates of the mosque, a move that was rejected by Palestinians who refused to enter the mosque under the new Israeli security measures.

In the clashes that ensued, at least four Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces and hundreds of others were injured, while three members of an Israeli family in a West Bank settlement were killed by an assailant who said he did it "to redeem Al-Aqsa."

--IANS

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