Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 

Qardawi Prohibits Muslims from Visiting Jerusalem Until it is Liberated from the Israeli Occupation

Violent clashes in Jerusalem, Qardawi prohibits visiting it for non-Palestinians

[ 28/02/2012 - 10:09 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

Israeli occupation police forces arrested five Jerusalemites on Monday night during violent confrontations with young men in Tur suburb.

Local sources said that the Israeli policemen and border guards fired rubbers bullets, teargas canisters, and stun grenades on the demonstrators.

They said that the clashes, which broke out near Makased hospital, were going on for the fourth day running in protest at the storming of the Aqsa mosque last Friday, adding that the young men threw stones and iron bars at the policemen.

Meanwhile, renowned Egyptian scholar Dr. Yousef Al-Qardawi has renewed an earlier Fatwa (edict) prohibiting on all Muslims, except the Palestinians, to visit occupied Jerusalem.

He said that visiting Jerusalem while under occupation gives legitimacy to that occupation, noting that anyone wishing to visit it is compelled to deal with Israeli embassies to obtain an entry visa.

“We should feel that we are deprived of Jerusalem in order to fight to win it back”, he said, adding that Jerusalem would only return through resistance and Jihad.

Qardawi warned Jewish settlers against consequences of repeatedly storming the holy Aqsa mosque, describing it as a “red line”.

Qardawi’s words, which were in response to PA chief Mahmoud Abbas’s call on Muslims to visit Jerusalem, were echoed by a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

Fawzi Barhoum said in a press release that visiting Jerusalem under occupation is recognition of occupation and a sort of normalization.

He said that Muslims should rather save Jerusalem from occupation and boost steadfastness of its inhabitants.

Al-Quds Conference Decides To Head To UN

Tuesday February 28, 2012 01:44 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Al-Quds Arab Conference, held in Doha – Qatar, concluded its deliberations on Monday with a decision to head to the United Nations over the ongoing Israeli violations and escalation against the Arab and Islamic Holy Sites in occupied East Jerusalem.

The will also be asking the UN to investigate all Israeli measures taken in East Jerusalem since it fell under occupation following the 1967 six-day war when Israel occupied the rest of Palestine (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem).

In its final statement, the conference concluded that it is essential to expose the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people in general, and the violations against the Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, and the holy sites, especially amidst excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other areas in occupied Jerusalem.

The Arab leaders who participated in the conference stated that the Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem must be supported by political, financial, development and media means in order to be able to counter the Israeli aggression against them.

The also called on Switzerland, the depository of the of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, to which Israel is a signatory, to urge all countries that sponsored the agreement to convene, and to act of on halting the Israeli violations.

The leaders said that they are extremely concerned regarding the Israeli excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, and in other areas in the occupied city.

Ashrawi: Netanyahu response to Jerusalem conference 'malicious'

Ma'an, February 28, 2012

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) --

PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Tuesday called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's response to a conference on Jerusalem a "malicious campaign of distortion and other inflammatory statements."

At the conference in the Qatari capital on Sunday, President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of conducting ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem, prompting Netanyahu to slam the statement as "contemptible remarks."

"Israel's prevention of Palestinians, whether Christian or Muslim, from reaching their city, whether to worship, to seek health care or to conduct business is deplorable," Ashrawi said in a statement.

"What is 'contemptible' is precisely this behavior that constitutes an extreme provocation by the occupying power and a tremendous distortion of the cultural, historical, demographic identity of the city of Jerusalem."

Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a 1967 war, in a move never recognized by the international community.

"If the Israeli government wants to dispute the Palestinian report on the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, then it should stop its confiscation of Palestinian land, the expropriation of resources, the revocation of IDs, the construction of illegal settlements and the demolition of Palestinian homes," Ashrawi said.

The Doha conference called for the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry on the Judaization of Jerusalem and warned that the Arab Spring countries would no longer accept the occupation of the holy city by Israel.