Pakistan, along with seven other countries, condemned the restrictions imposed by Israel on the freedom of worship for Muslims and Christians in occupied Jerusalem, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday.
Since Israel and the United States started a war with Iran on Feb 28, Israeli authorities have closed access to Jerusalem’s holy sites over security concerns — Al Aqsa Mosque for Muslims, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and the Western Wall for Jews.
In a joint statement alongside the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the FO condemned and rejected the continued restrictions imposed by Israel on the freedom of worship for Muslims and Christians in occupied Jerusalem.
The restrictions have included preventing Muslim worshippers from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Haram Al-Sharif, as well as preventing “the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Custos of the Holy Land from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass”.
“These continued Israeli measures constitute a flagrant violation of international law … and represent an infringement on the unrestricted right of access to places of worship,” the joint statement said.
