CAIRO, September 4, 2025 (WAFA) – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, said today that Jerusalem is witnessing a tragic reality, marked by an accelerated and systematic implementation of a colonial strategy aimed at eliminating the Palestinian presence in the city.
Speaking during the meeting of the Arab Ministerial Committee tasked with confronting illegal Israeli policies and actions in occupied Jerusalem, Shahin stressed that the occupation is actively working to alter the historical, religious, demographic, and legal character of the city and to impose a new reality that disregards international law.
She noted that more than 39,000 Israeli colonists have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under the protection of occupation forces since the beginning of the year. These incursions have involved public Talmudic rituals, the raising of Israeli flags, disruption of the call to prayer, and the imposition of restrictions on worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan. Attempts to introduce animal sacrifices were also recorded, acts that constitute a blatant violation of the sanctity, religious significance, and symbolic status of the site.
Shahin also reported that the occupation authorities have carried out over 186 demolitions and land-leveling operations.
In many cases, Palestinian residents were forced to demolish their own homes to avoid heavy fines and the risk of detention.
She stressed that Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing targets Palestinian neighborhoods in Silwan, Issawiya, Sheikh Jarrah, and Beit Hanina, aiming to displace residents and replace them with colonists, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
On colonial settlement expansion and Judaization, the minister highlighted the approval of large-scale colonial plans, including thousands of settlement units, apartheid road networks, and so-called Talmudic gardens, all aimed at seizing land, isolating Palestinian neighborhoods, and fragmenting their territorial continuity.
The Foreign Minister further stated that schools and universities have been raided and closed, including targeting curricula, libraries, and national institutions such as the Jerusalem Fund, which have been arbitrarily shut down in a deliberate effort to break the will of Jerusalemites, erase their identity, and deny their children a future.
She also affirmed that the occupation uses expulsion orders as a tool of political repression, targeting national and religious figures, including the Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, in an effort to silence every voice that rejects the occupation and defends the rights of the Palestinian people.
Shahin warned that international silence and the absence of accountability have given the occupation a green light to continue its crimes.
She urged members of the committee to activate effective international mechanisms to immediately halt these violations, protect the holy city and its sacred sites, pressure Israel to comply with relevant international resolutions and agreements, halt all acts of colonial construction and demolitions, support the steadfastness of Jerusalem’s residents both materially and morally, and stand by their national institutions, which serve as the first line of defense for the Arab identity of the city.
The minister emphasized that the situation in Jerusalem is not an isolated crisis but part of a broader colonial scheme targeting all Palestinian land. She noted that this strategy coincides with the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the escalation of colonial settlement expansion and land seizures in the West Bank, and a suffocating economic and humanitarian siege aimed at dismantling the Palestinian presence both geographically and demographically, effectively eliminating any prospect of establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Shahin expressed appreciation to Jordan for its historic role in safeguarding the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and for its steadfast defense of these sacred places. She also thanked member states for their steadfast positions in support of the Palestinian cause.
T.R.
