Eight Muslim-majority nations, including Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, condemned Israel on Wednesday for closing Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City and denying Palestinians the right to pray there during Ramadan.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the eight nations said the closure by Israel breached international law and the historical and legal status quo at Al Aqsa, as well as the principle of unrestricted access to places of worship.
Al Aqsa is Islam's third-holiest site. Jewish Israelis are allowed to visit the mosque's compound at designated times that do not conflict with Muslim prayers. But Jews are not allowed to pray there.
The ministers expressed "absolute rejection and condemnation of this illegal and unjustified measure as well as Israel's provocative actions at Al Aqsa mosque against worshippers".
"Israel has no jurisdiction over occupied [East] Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy sites," said the statement by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan and Qatar.
Israeli authorities have shut down Jerusalem’s Old City on security grounds since the Iran war began on February 28, more than a week into the month of Ramadan.
Israeli police, either at checkpoints or in roving patrols, have been posted in the Old City every dozen metres or so, demanding to see IDs from Palestinians.
Paths leading to the gates of the Al Aqsa Mosque have been completely closed, as well as access to the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, both a short distance away.
Israel’s police said last week that the closure of Al Aqsa is in line with nationwide restrictions on public life during the war with Iran and Hezbollah.
Although the rate of Iranian missile fire at Israel appears to have slowed, the risk remains, and Jerusalem has had strikes, falling shrapnel and direct Iranian threats since the war began.
East Jerusalem, where Al Aqsa and other holy sites are located, is wanted by Palestinians as the future capital of an independent state on the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
That state, envisaged in a long-proposed solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is vehemently opposed by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has this year taken steps widely seen as a possible prelude of the annexation of the West Bank.
