Amman, July 23 (Petra) – The Lower House Palestine Committee
commended the unanimous adoption by the World Heritage Committee of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) of a resolution to keep the Old City of Jerusalem and its
walls on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Passed during UNESCO’s 48th session, the committee said the step
represents “renewed” international condemnation of the Israeli
occupation’s policy, aimed at Judaizing the holy city and scrapping
its Arab and Islamic identity.

In a statement issued Thursday, the committee noted the move shows
all Israeli attempts to impose a fait accompli by force will fail to
grant Israel any legitimacy, adding that Jerusalem will remain an
occupied Arab and Islamic city, regardless of the extent of the
policies of repression, falsification, and settlement.

The committee urged the Muslim countries, the international
community, the United Nations, and UNESCO to take “practical and
deterrent” measures to compel Israel to cease its escalating
violations, work towards implementing Jerusalem-related international
resolutions and counter attempts to steal history and impose a
demographic and geographic reality.

On a related front, the committee condemned the Israeli authorities’
step to allow thousands of extremists to storm the courtyards of the
Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Talmudic rituals, raise the occupation
flags, and erect tents inside the mosque.

The MPs considered these practices a blatant act of aggression and a
provocation of the feelings of more than two billion Muslims
worldwide, and a dangerous escalation aimed at imposing a temporal
and spatial division of the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the pretexts and
myths of the “alleged temple.”

Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of ​​144 dunams, is the
exclusive Islamic right of Muslims alone, and the occupation has no
sovereignty or legal or historical right over this holy site, the MPs
pointed out.

The committee noted any attempt to alter the existing historical and
legal status quo constitutes a flagrant violation of international
law and an unacceptable aggression against Islamic holy sites, which
will fail to change the reality of Jerusalem and its established
identity.

The committee also stated Jerusalemites’ “steadfastness and
resilience” will remain the invincible barrier against Judaization
and displacement projects, adding that the occupation’s schemes will
fail despite its escalation policies.

The committee said Israeli escalation will fail to alter identity of
Jerusalem or “erase Al-Aqsa Mosque from the conscience of the Arab
and Islamic nation and the holy city will remain a symbol of truth,
history, and dignity.”
//Petra// AG