Muslim group to hold exceptional meeting to discuss situation in Jerusalem

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said Thursday it will hold "an exceptional open-ended meeting" on April 25 to "discuss the escalating Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque."

OIC said the meeting is at the request of Indonesia and will be held at the level of permanent representatives.

The pan-Muslim grouping also said Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha held consultations with several international actors to express OIC's "rejection and condemnation of the Israeli occupation's attempts to impose the temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Taha urged the international community and actors "to take urgent action to put an end to the Israeli violations against the holy sites."

Tensions have been running high across Palestinian territories since the beginning of April amid repeated Israeli arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank.

Daily settler incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque to celebrate the week-long Jewish Passover holiday have further inflamed the situation.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.