NewzFourteen Arab and Palestinian institutions and organisations on Wednesday issued an urgent appeal calling for collective action to protect occupied Jerusalem amid what they described as escalating Israeli violations targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city's historic identity. The appeal warned of an unprecedented Israeli escalation targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalemites, and the city's Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, saying the measures seek to create new realities on the ground and consolidate control by force. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims.
Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, a move never recognised by the international community.
The appeal said Jerusalem is facing one of the most critical periods in its modern history, citing increased incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Israeli occupiers under the protection of Israeli forces, along with efforts to impose a temporal and spatial division of the mosque. READ: Around 1,300 Israeli occupiers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem It also cited attacks on worshippers, exclusion orders against religious and national figures, the targeting of Al-Aqsa guards, and restrictions on freedom of worship, saying such measures aim to alter the historic and legal status quo at the holy site. An Israeli Jewish settler performs rituals during an incursion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, the third holiest mosque worldwide, in disregard for the sentiments of millions of Muslims worldwide.
pic.twitter.com/Z2Wqgz8pWc — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 1, 2026 The appeal said Israeli policies in Jerusalem also include home and property demolitions, forced displacement, residency revocations, settlement expansion, excavation work around Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City, and attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites. It warned that these policies also threaten Jerusalem's longstanding Christian presence through restrictions on Christian institutions and religious figures, as well as attempts to alter the city's historic and pluralistic character. "Statements and condemnations alone are no longer sufficient," the appeal said, calling for coordinat…
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