Palestinian envoy raps UN passivity over Israeli violation in Aqsa

The Palestinian mission to the United Nations has strongly denounced the Security Council for its inaction over the recent Israeli aggression in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. 

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, on Thursday lashed out at the 15-member body for its failure to condemn the ongoing Israeli crimes against Muslim worshipers at the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Palestinian envoy warned that Muslim countries and nations at the UN will not leave Palestinians to defend the holy mosque on their own.

Meanwhile, in a unanimous declaration, the Security Council on Thursday expressed "grave concern" over the provocative actions at the revered Muslim site. The council also appealed for restraint and called for maintaining the rules governing the al-Aqsa compound. 

"The members of the Security Council called for the exercise of restraint, refraining from provocative actions and rhetoric, and upholding unchanged the historic status quo" at the compound "in word and in practice," the statement read.  

It added that both worshipers and visitors should be without fear of violence while at the compound. It also called for an end to the ongoing clashes.

However, council members fell short of denouncing the incursion into the holy compound by Israeli regime forces.

This came after Israeli settlers and troops attacked worshipers at the site of the holy mosque on Wednesday for the fourth consecutive day. The brutal assault against Palestinians started on Sunday following the deployment of Israeli soldiers to the area for the Jewish Rosh Hashanah New Year holiday.

Meanwhile, Tel Aviv regime forces have applied sweeping restrictions on entry into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound since August 26.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at an emergency meeting on Wednesday that Israel plans to broaden the mandate of its forces following clashes between them and Palestinian protesters in and around the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied West Bank.

Israel's latest aggression has drawn widespread international criticism and condemnation.

On Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the incursions by Israeli forces and settlers into the holy al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

“Muslim and Christian holy places in East Jerusalem are a red line,” said Abbas, adding, “We will not stand idly by before these assaults.”

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah also warned the international community that Israeli escalations in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) threatened to ignite conflict throughout the entire region. “The Israeli government will bear the consequences of its policy of targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” 

Izzat al-Rishq, a leading member of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has described the storming of the mosque compound as a “war crime”. 

Meanwhile, the UN Special Coordinator for the so-called Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, has recently expressed grave concerns over the violence and continued clashes in and around the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

“As the Middle East faces a vicious tide of terror and extremism, such serious provocations have the potential to ignite violence well beyond the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem (al-Quds),” Mladenov told the UN Security Council, speaking via video conference from al-Quds.

The developments come as Palestinians say Tel Aviv is planning to change the status quo of al-Quds and Judaize the city.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, located in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, is a holy Islamic site. The location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism.

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