‘Jerusalem faces systematic Israeli attempts to impose new reality’

AMMAN — Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites are facing enormous challenges, where Israeli authorities are systematically working to change the status quo of the city and its Arab, Islamic identity through administrative procedures, laws, decisions and policies, Jordan’s Ambassador to Moscow Amjad Adaileh said on Thursday.

These measures aim at imposing new realities on the ground and evacuating the city of its indigenous Muslim and Christian inhabitants, which contradicts all international laws and norms, UN Security Council resolutions and the International Humanitarian Law, Adaileh added, as reported by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Speaking at a symposium on “Jerusalem and prospects for the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict”, hosted by Russia Today under the patronage of the Arab League mission in Moscow, the ambassador said that the recent years witnessed unprecedented procedures to Judaise Jerusalem through big projects that seek to alter the historical identity of the city.

During the event — attended by political adviser to the Palestinian president Nabil Shaath, Arab ambassadors to Russia, representatives of the Russian council of Ifta and the Orthodox Church, Russian politicians and others — Adaileh said that the Jordanian stance towards Jerusalem is based on the Hashemite Custodianship over Islamic and Christian sites in the occupied city.

In this regard, he stressed that the Palestinian cause will remain central to Jordan, Arab and Islamic nations and supporters of peace and justice in the world.

The diplomat added that failure to resolve the issue, based on the two-state solution that guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital along the pre-1967 borders, will result in an environment of despair that can help extremism grow.

Participants delivered speeches that stressed the centrality of having East Jerusalem as the capital of the envisioned Palestinian state, rejecting any colonisation and administrative procedures by Israel and the US.