JERUSALEM, Wednesday, December 2, 2020 (WAF) - The Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem today called on the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately stop their malicious intrusions against Muslim cemeteries in the occupied holy city.

It said in a statement that the changes Israeli intends to institute in East Jerusalem, which would change the features of the city in general and its two cemeteries located on the outer bounds of Jerusalem’s old city wall, the Yusufiya and Bab al-Rahma cemeteries, in addition to the Umayyad palaces in particular, “are measures intended to change the facade of the city of civilizations and obliterate its Arab and Islamic landmarks while according it Jewish characters.”

The Council stressed, in particular, the Israeli attacks against the Yusufiya cemetery that extends along the eastern wall of Jerusalem’s old city and adjacent to Bab al-Rahma cemetery that extends along the eastern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque and said the Israeli occupation authorities have rummaged its graves and demolished the stairs leading to the cemetery while denying Muslims the right to bury their dead at the historic Bab al-Rahma cemetery.

The Higher Islamic Council considered the Israeli measures in these cemeteries, as well as at Mammilla Islamic cemetery in West Jerusalem, as "illegitimate and unacceptable assaults, rejected by all religious, humanitarian and international standards."

It called on Arab and Islamic governments to shoulder their responsibilities towards Jerusalem and its holy places, primarily Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is facing serious dangers from all sides.

T.R./M.K.