Israeli police blocking access to the campus of Al-Quds University‘s College of Arts in East Jerusalem where an academic conference on Islamic endowment was scheduled to be held. (WAFA Images) 

JERUSALEM, July 14, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli security banned on Saturday Palestinians from holding an academic conference in occupied East Jerusalem, according to WAFA correspondent in Jerusalem.

Israeli security forces cordoned off Al-Quds University’s College of Arts campus in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem and prevented convening the two-day Fourth Academic Conference on Islamic Waqf (endowment) in Jerusalem.

The conference was organized by Jerusalem Waqf and Heritage Reservation Society and the Islamic Supreme Committee – Jerusalem, with funding from the Jerusalem Waqfiya Fund headed by Palestinian businessman and philanthropist Munib Masri.

Later reports said police detained Masri and took him in for interrogation.

Israel has been banning Palestinians from holding any activity in the occupied section of their city, often detaining organizers and breaking up with force meetings or conferences.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem after its occupation in 1967. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of their future independent state expected to be created in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the June 5, 1967 borders.

M.K.