The preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the former Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri stressed his rejection of the recent campaigns of normalization and visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque through the gate controlled by the Israeli occupation authorities.
He talked about his current visit to Turkey and his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an exclusive interview with Arabi 21 stressing the importance of the Turkish role in the occupied city.
Sabri underlined the need to publish the Islamic narrative about Jerusalem. He said he accepted the invitation of the Minbar al-Aqsa Foundation to visit Turkey and meet with Turkish scholars and muftis.
Sheikh Sabri was accorded an official reception which he said was not for him personally but rather for what he represents and to the place from where he came from namely Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Dialogue with the president
Sabri said that the Turkish president assured him that Jerusalem is a trust and that the Turkey is the custodian of everything related to Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem.
He pointed out that Erdogan had emphasized the necessity to unify the Islamic position and the establishment of an Islamic union that parallels the European Union. Erdogan expressed his regret at the recent wave of normalization with the Israeli occupation state and at the differences between Muslims Sabri added.
Regarding the Turkish role in the occupied city the preacher indicated that Turkey has an important role there through charitable societies educational institutions and the restoration of archaeological and historical buildings.
Regarding the normalizers’ visits to Occupied Jerusalem Sabri said that the Supreme Islamic Commission controls the visits to Al-Aqsa since 1967. Hence any delegations that come to visit Al-Aqsa must do so through the legitimate gate which is the endowments authority and not through the gate controlled by the occupation he underlined.
He described any visits through the occupation-controlled gate as an acknowledgment of the occupation’s legitimacy and a recognition of its sovereignty over Al-Aqsa stressing that every Muslim has the right to pray at Al-Aqsa but without recognizing the legitimacy of the occupation.
Sabri finally warned that if the normalization visits are imposed on the Palestinians by the force of the occupation this will create tension in the region for which the Israeli occupation bears responsibility.
