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Riots at Temple Mount
Photo: Reuters
Riot police in action
Photo: AFP

Islamic conference: Al-Aqsa fighting may ignite religious war

Secretary-general of pan-Islamic body says fighting between Israeli police and Muslims at al-Aqsa a 'sacrilegious act of profanation of the holy Islamic site; violation of international law'

The Organization of the Islamic Conference Saturday accused Israeli police of sacrilege by entering Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque and called for international intervention to "end Israeli aggression."

 

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Jeddah-based pan-Islamic body, said in a statement that Friday's fighting between Muslims and Israeli police at the Temple Mount compound in east Jerusalem, which injured dozens, was "a sacrilegious act of profanation of the holy Islamic site."

 

The police action was "a violation of international law and a flagrant attack on the freedom of religion of the nature that could take the region into a war between religions," he said in the statement.

 

Ihsanoglu called on the international community and the Quartet on Middle East peace -- the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations -- to "pay heed to the gravity of the Israeli violations and the threat they pose to the region now and in the future."

 

He called for "an international intervention effective at every level to end Israeli aggressions and make Israel respect international law."

 

On Friday, Gabon's UN Ambassador Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, president of the Security Council for March, said, "The members of the Security Council expressed their concern at the current tense situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem.

 

"They urged all sides to show restraint and avoid provocative acts," he said after a closed-door meeting. "They stressed that peaceful dialogue was the only way forward and looked forward to an early resumption of negotiations," he said.

 

Reuters contributed to the report 

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.06.10, 16:53
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