WORLD NEWS | Arab leaders warn Israel’s actions threaten regional instability

CAIRO, Feb. 12 (AP) Dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries warned Sunday that Israeli actions in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank could fuel regional unrest as Israel Violence between the Palestinians and the Palestinians surged.

The Cairo meeting was hosted by the Arab League and attended by Egyptian President Sisi, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and many foreign ministers and senior officials.

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The high-level gathering came amid one of the deadliest fighting in years in Jerusalem and the neighboring Israeli-occupied territory.

According to an Associated Press tally, 45 Palestinians have been killed so far this year.

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During this period, the Palestinians killed 10 people from the Israeli side.

In their statements, conference speakers condemned Israel’s “unilateral measures” in Jerusalem and the West Bank, including the demolition of houses and expansion of settlements.

They also denounced visits by Israeli officials to the city’s controversial shrine, which is sacred to both Jews and Muslims and has often been the center of Israeli-Palestinian unrest.

The Israeli government had no immediate comment.

The officials also expressed support for Jordan’s role as custodian of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site.

Built on top of a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, the mosque is the holiest site for the Jewish people, who call it the Temple Mount because it was the site of an ancient Jewish temple.

Since Israel captured the site in the 1967 Middle East war, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Sisi, who called Jerusalem the “pillar of the Palestinian cause”, warned that any move by Israel to alter the status quo at the Holy Land would have dire consequences, saying it would have a “negative impact” on future negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The measures, he said, would thwart a long-sought two-state solution to the conflict, which would leave “difficult and stark choices facing both sides and the Middle East as a whole.”

Sisi, the first Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, called on the international community to “strengthen the two-state solution and create favorable conditions for the resumption of the peace process”.

King Abdullah II also called on Israel to stop its violations and incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“Without any progress in the Palestinian cause, there will be no peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” he warned.

Ahmed Abu Gheit, secretary-general of the pan-Arab organization, also warned that attempts to divide the al-Aqsa mosque and erase its Arab and Islamic identities “will fuel endless unrest and violence”.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his government would turn to the United Nations and its agencies and demanded a resolution to protect a two-state solution to the conflict.

“The State of Palestine will continue to resort to international courts and organizations to protect the legitimate rights of our people,” he said.

Ongoing violence has kept the region on edge. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian leaders and urged them to de-escalate tensions.

Israel is run by a new far-right government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many politicians in Netanyahu’s government oppose Palestinian independence.

The meeting in Cairo on Sunday issued a final statement condemning what it called “systemic Israeli policies” aimed at “distorting and changing” Jerusalem’s “Arab and Islamic culture and identity”.

The communiqué also urged the ICC to continue its investigation and hold to account those responsible for Israel’s alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)