Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend a key meeting on Jerusalem in Jordan with the participation of the top diplomats from prominent regional countries to discuss Israel’s unlawful acts in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank, Turkish diplomatic sources have informed.
The meeting, to be hosted by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Aug. 5, will include senior officials from Palestine, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Somalia and Malaysia, as well as the secretary general of the Arab League.
The agenda of the meeting includes the importance of the protection of the historical and legal status of the sacred spaces in Jerusalem and the evaluation of recent developments and unlawful actions of Israel in the eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank.
According to the sources, Fidan will underline the importance of Jerusalem for the Muslim world, and the protection of the city’s historical and legal status is a joint responsibility of the international community.
He will express the concerns stemming from Israeli initiatives and provocations aiming to change the status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which also target the Christian sacred spaces in Jerusalem.
Fidan will emphasize that moving foreign embassies to Jerusalem contradicts relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and damages the outlook for a two-state solution.
The Turkish foreign minister will express deep concerns over Israel’s attempts to change the city’s demographic structure by expelling Palestinians from their homes as well as rising violence by the Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
He will also recall that Türkiye has supported the Gaza peace plan, hoping it will bring positive outcomes to the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Despite international efforts to implement the Gaza peace plan, the Netanyahu government is still targeting civilians in the enclave, Fidan will stress, while calling on the international community to condemn them in the strongest terms.
Joint condemnation of Israeli attacks in Gaza
In the meantime, Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar strongly condemned ongoing Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip, saying that Israel is targeting healthcare facilities and medical infrastructure, causing civilian casualties and breaching international law.
In a joint statement issued by the three mediating countries on Aug. 4, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the attacks, which have killed civilians including women and children, “constitute a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”
The mediators urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international law and fully uphold its commitments under the ceasefire agreement and said that the continued violations breach the deal and undermine efforts to implement its second phase.
The statement said the violations come even after Hamas and other Palestinian factions announced their acceptance of the roadmap, “especially the provision concerning the confinement of weapons,” and warned the violations threaten de-escalation efforts while worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
