Arab League chief slams Israeli PM’s Jerusalem statements

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit. (Reuters)
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Updated 10 May 2022
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Arab League chief slams Israeli PM’s Jerusalem statements

  • Aboul Gheit’s comments come after Israeli PM says it is ‘the sovereign over Jerusalem’
  • The Arab League chief deplored ‘the attempt to violate the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, which restricts the right of prayer to Muslims only’

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit expressed his total rejection of any Israeli attempts to change the historical and legal status quo of Jerusalem.

Abdoul Gheit’s stance came in response to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s statements on Sunday, when he said that his country is “the sovereign over Jerusalem, regardless of any external considerations, and will take all decisions related to Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city,” according to a statement by his office.

The Arab League chief deplored “the attempt to violate the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, which restricts the right of prayer to Muslims only, which may ignite a cycle of violence that threatens security and stability in the region.”

An official source at the league’s general secretariat quoted Aboul Gheit as saying: “The talk about any alleged Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites represents a flagrant violation of international law, and a violation of international legitimacy resolutions that no one recognizes.”

The source added that Aboul Gheit “stressed the Arab League’s firm position in defending Palestinian rights and supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, their leadership and institutions in defending East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.”


Israel army kills West Bank attacker who tried to run over troops

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Israel army kills West Bank attacker who tried to run over troops

  • The Palestinian civil affairs authority named the man as 20-year-old Qais Sami Jaser Allan, adding that he “was shot by the occupation forces between the towns of Einabus and Awarta”

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said its troops shot dead a man who tried to run over a group of soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
The incident occurred in Einabus in the northern West Bank, the military said.
“A short while ago, a report was received regarding a terrorist who attempted to run over IDF (Israeli army) soldiers operating in the area of Einabus,” the military said.
“In response, the soldiers fired at the terrorist and eliminated him.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it rescued three people after the Israeli army opened fire near Einabus on a vehicle with Palestinian license plates.
“Two of the wounded were shot, and one of them is in critical condition. The third was injured as a result of being beaten,” the Red Crescent said.
The Palestinian civil affairs authority named the man as 20-year-old Qais Sami Jaser Allan, adding that he “was shot by the occupation forces between the towns of Einabus and Awarta.”
The incident came just days after a Palestinian from the West Bank ran over an Israeli in his sixties with his vehicle and later stabbed an 18-year-old girl to death in northern Israel.
The perpetrator was killed during the attack.
Following that incident on Friday, the military conducted a two-day operation in the West Bank town of Qabatiya from where the attacker came, detaining several residents including his father and brothers.
Since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023, violence has also surged in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the territory, including many militants as well as dozens of civilians, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the Palestinian health ministry.
According to official Israeli figures, at least 44 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the same period in the West Bank.