AMMAN — Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs Secretary-General Abdullah Kanaan on Saturday stressed the need to protect Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, as the Kingdom marked the anniversary of the 1969 burning of Al Aqsa Mosque.

 

In a statement marking the anniversary, observed annually on August 21, Kanaan said the fire caused extensive damage to the Qibli Mosque and destroyed the pulpit of Salah Al Din Al Ayyoubi.

 

He said attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque did not end with the 1969 fire, but have continued through raids, attempts to impose new realities, excavations and plans for the temporal and spatial division of the holy site, amid escalating Israeli attacks across the Palestinian territories, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reproted.

 

Developments in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, alongside attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites, highlight the dangers of such policies to the religious and historical identity of Jerusalem and Palestine, Kanaan said.

 

He stressed the importance of supporting the resilience of the Palestinian people, providing humanitarian assistance and ending the aggression, calling on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and press for respect for international law and the historical status quo in Jerusalem.

 

Kanaan also underscored the importance of supporting Jordan’s position and His Majesty King Abdullah’s efforts to protect Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem under the Hashemite Custodianship.

 

He noted that, under Royal directives, Jordan undertook the restoration of Al Aqsa Mosque following the 1969 fire and returned Salah Al Din Al Ayyoubi’s pulpit (minbar) to the mosque in 2007.

 

Kanaan called for intensified international efforts to end the occupation and achieve peace based on the two-state solution, leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders.