Moroccan groups slam Arab silence following attacks on Al-Aqsa

Two Moroccan organisations yesterday denounced the international and Arab silence over Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque and demanded action be taken to stop the assaults.

Last Friday, Israel closed Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevented Muslims from praying there for the first time since 1969. But it partially reopened it on Sunday and ordered worshippers and staff to enter through metal detectors.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Moroccan Initiative for Support and Victory said:

Israel would not have done such things if it were not for the silence, abandonment and collusion of some Arab regimes.

“The positions of these regimes and the statements of their politicians are what encouraged Israel to commit this crime and to abuse holy sites.”

The organisation added: “The attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque is the implementation of a Zionist plan to Judaize Jerusalem and change the reality on the ground through the final arrangements for the project of temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Read: Israel seeks to further restrict access to Al-Aqsa Mosque

The attack, it said, was “a challenge to the feelings of Muslims and a flagrant violation of all international conventions and laws.”

The initiative appealed to the world’s active forces to make pressure for the implementation of the UN resolutions on the protection of places of worship, particularly those with UNESCO classification.

In this context, the initiative called on Al-Quds Committee in to “assume its responsibility through the urgent intervention by all available means to lift the siege imposed on Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

For its part, the Justice and Spirituality Association (the largest Islamic group in Morocco) condemned what it considered “international silence over the attacks that Al-Aqsa Al-Sharif is exposed to, including aggression, the siege that Gaza is undergoing, as well as the occupation, injustice and settlement suffered by the rest of Palestine.”

In a statement, the group called on “governments, states, various bodies and organiaations to urgently act with various mechanisms and means to stop this heinous attack.”

Read more: Palestinians refuse Israeli searches to enter Al-Aqsa

It also called on the international community to “take positions and condemn this attack on holy sites in Jerusalem.”

On Sunday, the Moroccan Justice and Development Party, which heads the coalition in government, called for “an official and popular Arab and Islamic position towards the Zionist entity’s attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the violation of its sanctity and its closure to worshipers.”

The party’s National Council said: “What the Zionist entity has done is criminal.”

It also stressed “its support for all initiatives that seek to fix the issue and overcome all the causes of division and disagreement.”