JERUSALEM – Since the start of the longest Jewish holiday season in mid-September, which lasts until the end of the seventh week of October, extremist Temple groups have intensified their incursions and violations of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

These abuses within the second holiest place for Muslims would not have reached this ceiling without the Israeli government's support for its organizers over many years, observers say.

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Those violations were preceded by Israel's failure to implement international resolutions on the city of Jerusalem, whether issued by the Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly or its various organizations, and the failure to protect religious interests therein.

What violation of international law is Israel committing by opening the Al-Aqsa Mosque to settlers and driving away Muslim worshippers? What is the significance of the Hashemite Custodianship of the mosque and religious sanctuaries in Medina? What about the status of Jerusalem as a city in international law?

To answer these questions, Al Jazeera Net spoke to a professor of international law at Al-Quds University Munir Nusseibeh, who indicated that international law does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem in its eastern and western parts.


Nusseibeh pointed out that this view is confirmed by a number of United Nations resolutions, which talk not only about the east of the city, which was occupied in 1967, but also about the west occupied in 1948.

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine, in which Jerusalem entered the corridors of the United Nations, where the internationalization of Jerusalem was stipulated as a means of protecting all religious interests in the holy city.

Jerusalem is occupied territory

Resolution 181, according to Nusseibeh, affirms that international law recognizes that the city of Jerusalem is "occupied territory" and has its own status, explaining that with each new Israeli attempt to extend control over Jerusalem, the international community has been issuing a resolution refusing to recognize that control.

Among the important resolutions on Jerusalem was UN Security Council Resolution 478 of August 20, 1980, which did not recognize Israel's Basic Law, through which Israel declared a united Jerusalem to its east and west as its capital and condemned the attempt to annex it.

"All this says that the international community to this day does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in all its parts, and two points can be deduced from all international resolutions related to the city, the first: the Israeli presence in all of Jerusalem is an occupation, and the second: East Jerusalem is part of the State of Palestine," according to Nusseibeh.

Nusseibeh: International law does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over East and West Jerusalem (Al Jazeera)

Hashemite Custodianship

In order to understand the position of the international community on the violations of the occupation in Al-Aqsa Mosque, it was necessary to familiarize itself with its legal vision of the Holy City.

Nusseibeh touched on the Hashemite custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying that it is a very important element, according to which the Kingdom of Jordan is the only body authorized to manage, rebuild and restore the mosque, and to allow or prevent entry to it, and how people behave inside it.

According to the website of Jordan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Affairs, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan "exercises its responsibility towards holy sites in Jerusalem based on the Hashemite Custodianship over them."

She added, "Jerusalem remained at the top of the priorities of Sharif Hussein bin Ali (1853-1931), and the Hashemite care was devoted to the holy sites in it when the pledge of allegiance and guardianship of the people of Palestine was held for him in 1924, so he was the first donor for the reconstruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque, as he took the initiative with his son Prince Abdullah (1882-1951) to provide an amount equivalent to about 50,<> gold liras for the reconstruction of the immaculate sanctuaries, which was then called the first Hashemite reconstruction."


Status quo

The Hashemite Custodianship was preceded by what is known as the "statico" law (status quo), which, according to Nusseibeh, is classified as an international law enacted during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and concerns holy places that must "remain as they are without any prejudice or breach."

This law would preserve the rights of religions, sects and historical and religious monuments, and preserve the identity of places and sanctities and their administrative subordination, in addition to the religious and historical roles and powers of all.

He resembles a statico photograph taken and then printed of a place in an era, and every attempt to touch it is a breach rather than a change.

He stressed the importance of calling the status quo a "breach" rather than a "change" with regard to the occupation violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The term "status quo" of Al-Aqsa states that the mosque, with its courtyards, chapels, schools, and roofed and unroofed landmarks, is the exclusive property of Muslims, and they can manage it in everything related to tourism and visits to this sanctuary, which occupies an area of 144 dunums (a dunum equals one thousand square meters).

Thus, international law views Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa from the perspective of condemnation and violation of the status quo there, according to the international law expert.

The Council of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Holy Places in Jerusalem said that Al-Aqsa Mosque is in "great danger" in light of Israeli violations, calling on Arab and Islamic countries to "stop the state of complicity and complacency" against Jerusalem https://t.co/pOyhDVnCRK

— Aljazeera.net • Al Jazeera Net (@AJArabicnet) October 3, 2023

Commenting on the recent statement of the Council of Endowments, Islamic Affairs and Holy Places in Jerusalem, in which UNESCO denounced the "betrayal" of Jerusalem and its failure to carry out its legal duties, Nusseibeh said that "it is good that UNESCO has not issued resolutions that contradict its previous resolutions related to Jerusalem, and this means that its legal position is still stagnating."

But he pointed out that Islamic countries constitute a great force in this international organization, and that if pressure is exerted by the movement of the endowments, Jordan and various countries, in addition to the non-aligned countries, this file can be moved within the organization.