ARABS AND MUSLIMS STRONGLY CONDEMN ARREST OF JERUSALEM GRAND MUFTI
“That arresting leaders are desperate attempts that will fail to break the will of the Palestinian people and their ability to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites,” the Palestinian ‘Islamic Jihad’ movement said.
The Palestinian resistance movement ‘Hamas’ warned Israel of the consequences of targeting other Palestinian leaders and national symbols, according to Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)’s official website reports as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
Meanwhile, In a press statement, Dr. Shawki Allam, Egypt’s Grand Mufti, denounced Israel’s arrest of Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, from his home this morning (May 8), and also condemned the storming Al-Aqsa mosque by the Israeli army, closing it to Muslim worshipers.
The Egyptian Mufti stressed that Muslims highly respect and revere their Scholars, and that Israeli authorities’ actions do not serve the peace process they claim they are seeking.
In a statement issued by a joint meeting, the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Wednesday denounced as a criminal act the new Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and religious and political symbols, which demonstrates Israel’s total irreverence of the Mufti’s religious status in the hearts of the Palestinian people in occupied Palestinian territories as well as abroad throughout the Muslim world.
The statement added: “This act of racial aggression is a new message indicating that Israel insists on moving forward in the implementation of its racial policy of Judaization of the occupied city of Jerusalem, its persistent prejudice against religious symbols of both Muslims and Christians, and its continued violation of all international legitimacy resolutions, which state that Jerusalem is an occupied territory”.
Hussein Ibrahim, head of the Global Forum of Islamist Parliamentarians (GFIP), described the latest Israeli act as illegal and unethical, saying that it represents a gross violation of the freedom of worship. He further added: “These acts may drag the international community to an all-out war in which the lives of many innocent people would be lost, unless it (international community) assumes the responsibility to deter the Israeli government and put an end to its constant provocations against the Palestinian people.
“The Israeli government – with the added pressure of its latest aggression – draws the attention of the world away from its settlement and Judaization schemes in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”
Israeli authorities release Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories Wednesday – hours after their forces arrested him at his home.(T/P03/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
