UAE, China Move UNSC Over Ben-Gvir’s Al Aqsa Visit:
UAE, China Move UNSC Over Ben-Gvir’s Al Aqsa Visit
New York: The UAE and China have called for a UN Security Council meeting following the visit of Itamar Ben-Gvir to Al Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards in occupied East Jerusalem defying warnings of unrest. The UNSC is expected to convene on Thursday, diplomats said.
Ben-Gvir, Israel’s new national security minister visited Jerusalem, the flashpoint holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, on Tuesday.
The visit drew fierce condemnation across the world. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE joined the Palestinians in condemning him.
The Palestinian leadership called the intrusion “an unprecedented provocation.” Israel’s closest ally, the US also expressed deep concern over the recent developments. ”We’re deeply concerned by any unilateral actions that have the potential to exacerbate tensions precisely because we want to see the opposite happen,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
”The United States stands firmly for the preservation of the historic status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem.’ And added that any unilateral actions undercutting the status quo are ”unacceptable.”
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 Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
