Al-Azhar Calls for Protection of Palestinian Holy Sites
Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism in a statement on Sunday condemned the Israeli plans for construction of some 3,000 settler units on plots of land belonging to the Orthodox Church in in Beit Safafa in the West Bank.
The statement said such a move would threaten to besiege the occupied city of Jerusalem al-Quds and isolate it from its surroundings from the southern side, RT Arabic reported.
The Observatory stressed that these malicious settlement plans represent a flagrant violation of the age covenant that stipulated the preservation of Palestinian lands and concern for Christian churches, stressing that the Zionist entity is targeting everything that is Palestinian with the aim of falsifying the demographic reality in Jerusalem in favor of Settlers.
It rejected the Zionist occupation policy that violates the sanctities of Palestinian holy sites, both Islamic and Christian, the latest of which was the terrorist incident in which an extremist settler attempted to set fire to the “Gethsemane” church in Jerusalem al-Quds.
The observatory called on the international community to address settlement policies that contradict international laws, and to provide protection for Palestinian holy sites.
