League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds and Palestine Organizes International Parliamentary Symposium on the Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque During Ramadan

The League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds and Palestine held a parliamentary symposium today, Monday, entitled "The Closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque During Ramadan: Political and Legal Dimensions and Implications." The event was presided over by the League’s president, Mr. Hamid bin Abdullah Al-Ahmar, and attended by numerous heads of Palestine committees from various parliaments.

The symposium, moderated by the League’s Secretary-General, Dr. Mohammad Makram Balawi, featured contributions from the following: the Head of the Palestine Committee in the Jordanian House of Representatives, MP Suleiman Al-Saud; member of the Palestinian National Council, MP Abbas Zaki; the Assistant to the President responsible for general management in the Tunisian Assembly of the Representatives of the People, MP Fadhel Benturkia; the Head of the Palestine Committee in the Malaysian Parliament, MP Syed Ibrahim; the Head of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Pakistani Parliament, Senator Mushahid Hussain; Mauritanian MP Al-Murtada Ould Tafil; the Head of the International Parliamentary Cooperation Committee in the Indonesian House of Representatives, MP Syahrul Aidi Maazat; the Head of the Palestinian-Turkish Friendship Committee, MP Hasan Turan; and Moroccan Parliamentary Counselor Khalid Setti.

In their final statement, the participants affirmed that the closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan, and the prohibition of prayer and I'tikaf (spiritual retreat), represents a flagrant violation of freedom of worship and international law. They stated that these measures constitute a dangerous precedent since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967 and fall within a systematic policy to diminish the Palestinian presence and create conditions to impose schemes for temporal and spatial division.

The statement emphasized the rejection of Israeli pretexts such as "public safety" or "state of emergency," asserting that Al-Aqsa Mosque is a place of worship exclusively for Muslims and that the Hashemite Custodianship and the Jordanian Islamic Waqf Department are the legally authorized entities to manage and protect the mosque.

The participants called for the intensification of international parliamentary and diplomatic action, support for the launch of an "International Day for the Protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque," and the initiative of an "International Parliamentary Day for Jerusalem" to enhance international coordination and defend holy sites.

For his part, the President of the League, Mr. Hamid bin Abdullah Al-Ahmar, emphasized that closing Al-Aqsa Mosque to worshippers is a flagrant violation of the freedom of worship and reveals the occupation's insistence on imposing a new reality that transcends international laws. He noted that the occupation is exploiting the world's preoccupation with crises, particularly the war on Iran, to pass its policies, which necessitates urgent action from parliaments and governments.

He indicated that the world's parliaments are called upon to fulfill their moral and legal responsibilities, moving through diplomatic and parliamentary channels to pressure for the guarantee of freedom of worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque and to halt the repeated aggressions against it.

Mr. Hamid pointed out that the League is working to unify international parliamentary efforts to defend Jerusalem. From this perspective, he stated, "We support the launch of an international day to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque, in addition to the initiative of an international parliamentary day for Jerusalem to strengthen coordination among parliaments around the world."

MP Al-Saud stated, "The cause of Jerusalem requires mobilizing all capabilities to support and defend it. Closing Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a flagrant and dangerous violation of freedom of worship," adding, "These measures cannot be accepted under any circumstances." He emphasized the importance of the Hashemite Custodianship over Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and its role in protecting Al-Aqsa Mosque and preserving its identity and historical status.

For his part, MP Abbas Zaki affirmed that the Palestinian people continue their steadfastness in defense of their land and holy sites, and that the international community, parliaments, and Arab and Islamic governments must fulfill their responsibilities in confronting these violations, ensuring the protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and supporting the right of Palestinians to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state. Zaki called for an urgent Arab League summit to discuss this assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque and for the convening of Arab and international parliamentary summits in the same context.

In turn, Senator Mushahid Hussain called on Islamic countries to take a unified and clear position regarding the assaults on Al-Aqsa, to support the establishment of a Palestinian state, and to produce practical and urgent resolutions.

From Indonesia, Syahrul Aidi Maazat stated, "Regional tensions or the aggression on Iran should not divert attention from the ongoing assaults on Jerusalem and the Palestinian people," noting that "the occupation's use of the war on Iran as a pretext to close Al-Aqsa is a malicious excuse within a strategy to alter the historical and religious status quo and impose a new reality."

From Tunisia, MP Fadel Bentrikia expressed his support for all the symposium's decisions and called on parliaments to activate committees to follow up on and implement the League’s decisions, and to coordinate with their governments to take appropriate measures to ensure the protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque and defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

From Mauritania, MP Al-Murtada Ould Tafil noted that this dangerous precedent had not received sufficient popular and media attention, and that "we must fulfill our responsibilities in leading a parliamentary, popular, and international movement to shed light on this worrying development." He called for the mobilization of Arab and Islamic peoples to move and defend Jerusalem and to work to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque from all attempts at Judaization and changes to its historical and religious status.

From Morocco, Parliamentary Counselor Khalid Setti called for the utilization of constitutional and parliamentary laws and procedures to confront the occupation in all fields, to mobilize the international community to pressure it, and to unify parliamentary efforts to legislate laws that criminalize the occupation and its violations against the Palestinian people and the holy sites.