The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday called for international action to end barbaric attacks against Palestinian worshipers at Al Aqsa Mosque, leading to hundreds of them being injured and arrested.
The general secretariat of the OIC Hissein Brahim Taha has dispatched similar letters to several international actors about the ongoing Israeli violation of Al Aqsa Mosque that included the closure of the Mosque’s gates and barbaric attacks against innocent worshipers.
In a statement, OIC said the letters were sent to the permanent members of the United Nation Security Council – the US, UK, Russia, France and China – as well as the UN Secretary-General and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
Hissein Brahim Taha asserted that this dangerous escalation of Israel’s aggression against the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an attack on the religious rights and sensibilities of the entire Islamic ummah.
He also described the escalation as a flagrant violation of the relevant international resolutions and instruments that may stoke religious war and violence in the region and beyond.
The OIC chief urged all international actors to act swiftly to pressure Israel “to guarantee the rights of Muslims to pray freely in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to preserve the existing historical and legal status of the holy sites in occupied Al-Quds.”
He also called for intensifying “international efforts to revive the political track that will end the Israeli occupation” and lead to the establishment of an independent State of Palestine.
Tensions escalated this week as Israeli forces continued to assault worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and remove them out of the compound daily to allow Israeli settlers to tour the revered site.
In March, Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians in various military raids in the occupied West Bank while 14 Israelis were killed in four lone-wolf attacks by Palestinians.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, West Bank, and the Gaza Strip during the six-day Arab-Israeli War in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank.
