OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has demolished the 8-century-old Supreme Islamic Council building in the occupied city of Jerusalem Palestinian sources affirmed on Thursday.
Sheikh Ekrema Sabri the head of the supreme Islamic bureau in Palestine condemned the IOA step and described it as a grave Israeli violation that comes in harmony with the IOA efforts to Judaize the holy city.
Under the IOA laws the historical building is considered abandoned and thus could be confiscated although Palestinian religious clerics affirmed that the building was a Wakf (endowment) that couldn’t be seized or sold under any pretext.
“What the IOA is doing against Islamic landmarks and Muslim holy shrines is indeed unacceptable and constitutes a serious violation of international laws and conventions” said the Sheikh.
The Aqsa foundation that caters for Muslim holy shrines for its part deprecated the IOA step unveiling that the IOA was planning to construct new and high buildings on the ruins of the demolished Council.
The foundation furthermore disclosed that the building was seized by the IOA in 1948 and turned it into headquarters for the Israeli ministry of industry till 2003 before Israeli companies purchased and sold it to a rich fanatic American-Jew for 20 million dollars.
The Council is considered one of the most marvelous Muslim landmarks in the occupied city that reflects Muslims’ ancient architecture.
Ethnic cleansing in occupied Jerusalem:
For his part Palestinian chief justice Sheikh Tayseer Al-Tamimi described the IOA practices against Palestinian Jerusalemites and Muslim holy shrines in the occupied city of Jerusalem as an “unprecedented ethnic cleansing campaign”.
“The IOA’s vicious and frenzied campaigns against the occupied city had noticeably intensified and increased during the recent weeks” Tamimi affirmed in a statement he issued and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC holding the IOA fully responsible for any adverse outcomes due to those unwarranted crimes.
He also called on the OIC to hold an emergency session over the Israeli aggressions and sacrilegious acts against Muslim holy shrines in Palestine and the occupied city of Jerusalem asserting that the kind of terrorism that the IOA practices against the occupied city of Jerusalem and Muslim and Christian holy shrines is a serious one and crossed all limits.
