Arab experts plan to go all the way to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek justice over ongoing Israeli archaeological excavations underneath Al Aqsa Mosque and the continued efforts to Judaise the Old City of Jerusalem.
Arab archaeologists, conservationists and Arab and Muslim heritage experts met in Amman last week under the auspices of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the Jordanian Department of Antiquities to compile evidence on the Israeli excavations that aim to lay the basis for Judaising the Old City of Jerusalem by denying or erasing all traces of Arab and Muslim heritage sites.
Israel is also being charged with going ahead with the “City of David Project” that entails the construction of a park right in the centre of Silwan, a key suburb of East Jerusalem populated by Palestinian Arabs.
Seeking justice from the ICJ on this issue may end up being more academic than real, and in any case unnecessary since it is a well known fact that East Jerusalem is an integral part of the Palestinian homeland and universally recognised as a city containing very important Islamic and Christian sites.
The UN General Assembly as well as the Security Council have adopted a string of resolutions confirming that East Jerusalem is an occupied territory and called on Israel to cease and desist from altering its status, either by unilaterally annexing it or otherwise.
International law also forbids an occupying power from carrying out any demographic or cultural changes in occupied territories, including any form of excavation that aims to alter its historical, political, religious or cultural status.
Under the circumstances going to the ICJ may not be necessary to assert Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem, including the prevention of any alteration, physical or otherwise, in the status of East Jerusalem and its religious or cultural heritage.
The ultimate solution to this problem is to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands including East Jerusalem, once and for all.
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