Egypt calls for halting Israeli escalation at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa complex

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

ANKARA (AA) - Egypt on Monday condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem by Israeli settlers to celebrate the Jewish New Year.

Over 300 Israeli settlers forced their way into the flashpoint site on Sunday under police protection to mark the Rosh Hashanah (New Year) holiday.

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called for halting “such escalatory actions that provoke millions of Muslims around the world and contribute to ignite violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The ministry said repeated settler raids and attempts to divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque “will not undermine its historical and legal status as a purely Islamic endowment."

“Such provocative actions undermine the foundations of any settlement on which regional and international efforts rely to revive the peace process based on the two-state solution,” the ministry said.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third-holiest site. Jews, for their part, call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two ancient Jewish temples.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa complex is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.