UN Security Council: Emphasizes that the status quo of Al-Aqsa must be respected

Its member states Security Council of United Nations Organization expressed concern yesterday Thursday (5/1) and insisted that it is necessary to maintain the status quo in the holy places in Jerusalema few days after the visit under draconian security measures to the Al-Aqsa Islamic mosque, made by the new Minister of National Security IsraelItamar Ben-Gvir, infuriating the Palestinians and in the Arab world and intense reactions at the international level.

As has been the status quo for the past few decades, only Muslims are allowed to pray at Al Aqsa, Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina, which is also a holy site for Jews, who call the site the Temple Mount.

Although Israeli officials insist that Itamar Ben-Gvir complied with this arrangement, since despite visiting the site for about a quarter of an hour he did not pray, for the Palestinians his “invasion” was an “unprecedented challenge” from the new government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestine’s representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, called on the Security Council to take action, which is however unlikely given that the US has traditionally protected Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East region, using if necessary the right of veto that possess.

“What red line must Israel cross for the Security Council to finally say ‘enough’?” asked Mr. Mansour, addressing his member states, accusing Israel of showing off “absolute contempt” for the status quo.

Senior UN official in charge of political affairs Khalid Hayari recalled during the meeting that this was the first visit by a member of the Israeli government to Al-Aqsa since 2017.

“While the visit was not accompanied or followed by violence, it is particularly inflammatory given Mr. Ben-Gvir’s past advocacy of changing the status quo,” he added.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly called on all parties to refrain from moves that could escalate tensions at the holy sites.

Mr Ben-Gvir has previously called for an end to the ban on Jews praying at the site, but has not spoken out on the issue since aligning himself with Mr Netanyahu and becoming part of his government. But other members of his party, Jewish Power, are pushing in this direction.

Israel’s ambassador Gilad Erdan described as “absurd” and “regrettable” the fact that the UN Security Council was convened to discuss Mr. Ben-Gvir’s visit to Al-Aqsa. “I’m really shocked,” he said. “Why; Because there is no reason for this emergency meeting. No one. To hold a meeting on a non-event is truly absurd” and “unfortunate,” he told the press before the matter was discussed. He repeated the same position during the work.

“Jews are allowed to visit Judaism’s holiest site. It is the right of every Jew. Israel has not harmed the status quo and does not intend to do so,” he insisted. He denied that Mr Ben-Gvir had “invaded” the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

For his part, the Palestinian representative, Mr. Mansour, accused the new Israeli government of having a “colonialist and racist” mentality, while criticizing the inaction of the Security Council.

In his own statement, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, assured that Washington remains committed to the two-state solution and is “concerned about any unilateral action that escalates tensions or undermines the viability of the two-state solution”.

“We note that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government program envisages maintaining the status quo regarding the holy sites. We expect the government of Israel to honor this commitment,” he added.

On Monday, the White House warned its ally Israel against any “unacceptable” unilateral action.

Mr Wood called on “the Israelis and Palestinians to take the necessary steps to restore calm, prevent further loss of life and safeguard the possibility of a two-state solution”.

Coming out of the two-hour meeting, the Palestinian ambassador simply expressed satisfaction with the “unanimity” in defense of the status quo of the holy places in the Security Council, adding however that he does not expect any UN action to be taken, as he requested.