Sahin Demir
05 August 2026•Update: 05 August 2026
Arab and Muslim foreign ministers convened in Jordan on Wednesday to formulate a joint position on Jerusalem amid what Amman described as escalating illegal Israeli measures targeting the city’s identity and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.
According to Jordan’s state news agency Petra, the meeting brought together members of the Arab ministerial committee tasked with confronting Israeli policies and measures in Jerusalem, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The ministers discussed developments in Jerusalem and its holy sites as they sought to adopt a unified position against Israel’s policies and actions.
Opening the meeting, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned that “Jerusalem is facing an escalating danger” and said its Islamic and Christian holy sites were under an unprecedented threat.
Safadi accused Israel of tightening its control over East Jerusalem through settlement construction, land annexation, property confiscation, restrictions on Palestinians and efforts to isolate the city from the rest of the Palestinian territories.
He said the measures were part of a plan targeting Jerusalem’s identity, history, present and future.
Safadi also accused Israel of violating the sanctity of Islamic and Christian holy sites and restricting freedom of worship for Muslims and Christians.
He said Christian clergy and churches had also come under pressure from what he described as extremist attacks and illegal legislation aimed at seizing church property and land.
Safadi said Israeli policies had increasingly targeted Al-Aqsa Mosque, accusing Israel of attempting to undermine its Islamic identity and alter the site’s longstanding historical and legal status quo.
He added that Israel’s measures in Jerusalem were part of a broader policy to consolidate its occupation of the West Bank and undermine the two-state solution, which he said remained the only path to a just peace.
The committee comprises Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iraq, Qatar, Egypt and Morocco, as well as the Arab League secretary-general.
Jordan hosted the meeting in its capacity as custodian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
The talks came amid continued Israeli measures that Arab and Muslim countries say threaten Jerusalem’s identity, religious heritage and historical status quo.
