King Mohammed urges international community to ban any attempt at holy Jerusalem
Regional-Palestine, Politics, 7/30/2001

Morocco's King Mohammed VI, chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, urged the international community and the permanent members of the security council as well as the UN secretary general to take urgent action to ban any act likely to harm Islam's holy shrines in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and to spare the region a catastrophe.

Al-Quds Committee, which is chaired by king Mohammed VI, warned against the consequences of the provocative acts that groups of Israeli extremists are projecting to undertake to harm Islam's holy shrines, mainly Al-Aqsa mosque.

The statement was released on the eve of a ceremony projected by a small group of extreme nationalist Jews that wanted to lay down the cornerstone for a future Jewish temple on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, an act viewed by the Arab-Islamic world and many world leaders as a provocative act that could inflame tensions in the whole region.

"in the face of the provocative acts that groups of Israeli extremists are projecting to undertake to harm Islam's holy shrines in Al-Quds Asharif, we urge the international community and call the permanent member countries of the UN security council as well as the UN secretary general to take urgent action to ban any act likely to harm Islam's holy shrines, mainly Al-Aqsa, first Kibla and Islam's third holy shrine," the sovereign said.

"Such an act will undoubtedly have serious consequences on the security situation in the whole region, including escalation of the violence and instability in the occupied Palestinian territories. In our capacity as chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, we have repeatedly warned against the consequences of such thoughtless acts, consecutive to the halting of the peace process," said the chairman of the Al-Quds committee-- a body set up by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to preserve the Arab-Islamic identity and heritage of the holy city.

The sovereign went on to say, "likewise, We call peace-loving parties to act to spare the region a catastrophe that would have unpredictable consequences in case the sacred character of the Al-Aqsa mosque and of the Islamic holy shrines in Al-Quds Asharif is harmed and in case the annihilation and blockade against the Palestinian people, the Palestinian infrastructure and the Palestinian national institutions are continued." The sovereign recalled the call launched by the Al-Quds Committee at the meeting held in Agadir on August 28, 2000, and which had renewed, on behalf of the Islamic Ummah, backing to all efforts meant to establish a lasting and fair peace in the Middle East on sound bases, founded on the principles of international legality and relevant UN resolutions.

Meanwhile, Moroccan minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Mohamed Benaissa, received here Saturday, at the instructions of the sovereign, the ambassadors and representatives of the UN security council permanent members accredited to Rabat to inform them about the Al-Quds Committee's chairmanship worries regarding the provocative acts of the groups of Israeli extremists.

An official statement said Benaissa asked the diplomats to convey to their respective governments the sovereign's call urging the heads of state of these countries to take urgent action to halt the provocative acts that threaten security in the region and that could have serious consequences for the whole Islamic region.

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