Jerusalem Mufti says Israel is forcing Jerusalem away from its Arab identity

Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, general Mufti of Jerusalem, warned against Israel's attempts to Judaize the city of Jerusalem.

In press statements to ArabicNews.com on the margin of the 11th conference of the supreme council for Islamic affairs, currently underway in Cairo, he said, "Jerusalem is besieged by Judaization and Westernization in a studied plan to move it away from its Arab Islamic roots that extend in history."

He said, "Israel tries subjecting Jerusalem by force to accept its civilization that aims at canceling the past and imposing the fait accompli."

Sabri said in the 11th conference for the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs that expelling the inhabitants from their houses under weak pretexts is not acceptable by any religion or law.

He added that the current year has witnessed the withdrawal of the identities of nearly 1,260 of Jerusalem's inhabitants, and that tens of houses were destroyed at a time in which not hundreds but thousands of settlement housing units are built for new Jewish immigrants from all over the world.