Top Arab, Muslim diplomats launch plan to protect Jerusalem religious sites

What the report says

Arab and Muslim foreign ministers meeting in Jordan have agreed to create a permanent mechanism to document and publicize what they described as Israeli violations in occupied East Jerusalem and at Islamic and Christian holy sites. According to Al Jazeera, the initiative includes plans for a media platform aimed at bringing incidents involving worshippers and sacred places to the attention of international organizations and the wider public.

The joint declaration, backed by participants including members of the Arab ministerial committee on Jerusalem, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and representatives from Turkiye, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia, urged immediate international action to halt Israeli measures in the city. The ministers said Jerusalem’s religious and political status was under threat and accused Israel of trying to alter the city’s Arab, Islamic and Christian character.

The statement focused heavily on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known as the Noble Sanctuary, saying it faced repeated incursions, restrictions on worshippers and attempts to change the existing status quo. It also criticized reported pressure on the Jerusalem Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department and excavations near the site. Al Jazeera reported that the declaration also condemned restrictions affecting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other Christian sites.

The ministers called for further discussion at a joint OIC-Arab League meeting during the UN General Assembly’s high-level week in New York in September. More broadly, the move reflects continuing regional concern over Jerusalem, a city central to both the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to major Muslim and Christian religious traditions.