Malaysia strongly condemns storming of Al-Aqsa, attacks on Palestinian worshippers

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia condemns in the strongest terms the storming of the Al Aqsa Mosque by Israeli extremists on Sunday (Sept 17), who also attacked Palestinian worshippers at one of the entrances to the mosque compound in East Jerusalem.

Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra) in a statement Wednesday said the assault against worshippers is a deliberate act of provocation and flagrant violation of the sanctity of the holy sites, which clearly aims to challenge the historical and legal status of Jerusalem and Al-Haram Al-Sharif.

"Malaysia, therefore calls on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to fulfill its mandated responsibility of holding the Israeli regime responsible for the continued acts of aggression against humanity and blatantly disregard countless principles of international laws.

"All acts of provocation and violence must be halted immediately in the interest of peace and security. There should be no disproportionate treatment in dealing with the conflict," it said in the statement.

The international community cannot continue to disregard Israel's continuous assaults and apartheid policy against the fundamental rights, lives, livelihood, and dignity of the Palestinians of all faiths in their own land.

Malaysia continues to stand firm by our principled position that the Palestinians deserve their own independent and sovereign state based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, added the statement.

The incident happened when Israeli security forces ejected worshipers from the mosque and denied access to Palestinians below the age of 50 to clear the way for Israeli settlers on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, according to international media reports.

Israeli settlers accompanied and protected by an intensified presence of security forces then made provocative incursions into the mosque.

Many countries have condemned the provocative act including Saudi Arabia, which denounced the storming of the mosque by a group of extremists under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, added the reports.

-- BERNAMA