The international community was urged to assume its responsibilities to compel the occupation to abolish the law on executing prisoners.
He called for Ben-Gvir and Smotrich to be placed on international, regional, and national terrorism lists.
He called on the Human Rights Council’s fact-finding committee to investigate the torture and starvation of prisoners.
Cairo, April 2, 2026 (WAFA) – The Council of the League of Arab States, at the level of permanent delegates, called for Arab, Islamic and international action, at the level of states, parliaments and organizations, to save the city of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites, through political, diplomatic, economic and legal measures.
This came in its resolutions issued at the conclusion of the extraordinary session at the level of delegates held today, Thursday, at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, chaired by Bahrain, at the request of the State of Palestine, and with the support of all Arab states, in the presence of the Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories, Ambassador Faed Mustafa, to discuss the crimes and violations of the occupation in the occupied city of Jerusalem, the closure of its Islamic and Christian holy sites, in addition to the approval by the occupation Knesset of the law to execute Palestinian prisoners, and the ongoing Israeli aggression against our Palestinian people.
The Council urged the international community, including the Security Council, to take a firm international stance that compels Israel to stop its crimes, violations and policies towards the city and its holy sites, and to abide by international law and relevant United Nations resolutions .
He demanded that the extremist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and his party’s deputies, as well as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his party’s deputies, be placed on international, regional, and national terrorism lists .
The Council warned against the continued Israeli siege of the Old City of Jerusalem, the closure of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the occupation government’s sponsorship of colonial groups that storm the mosque, perform their religious rituals in it, and plan to demolish it and undermine its foundations through systematic excavations beneath it.
He considered that all of this establishes dangerous Israeli intentions that include imposing alleged Israeli sovereignty over the mosque and dividing it, and subjecting it to the occupation’s security, political and religious policies. This comes within the framework of the crime of ethnic cleansing and the systematic Judaization campaigns that target Jerusalem with the aim of emptying it of its original inhabitants for the benefit of the settlers, through forced displacement, closing Palestinian institutions and forcibly seizing citizens’ homes, especially in the neighborhoods of Batn al-Hawa and Silwan adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The council stated that these aggressive Israeli policies and plans would inflame religious sentiments and expose the region to a religious conflict for which Israel, the illegal occupying power, would bear full responsibility.
Its consequences .
The Council of the League condemned the illegal Israeli measures aimed at weakening the Christian presence in the city of Jerusalem and undermining freedom of worship in its churches, which affects the existing legal and historical status of the holy sites and constitutes a serious violation of relevant international agreements and obligations.
He stressed the importance of the historical Hashemite custodianship over the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, protecting and preserving their Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, and the existing historical and legal status thereof, and that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of 144 dunams, is a place of worship exclusively for Muslims, and that the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Places, is the legal entity with exclusive jurisdiction to manage its affairs, regulate entry to it, and emphasize the importance of the role of the Jerusalem Committee, and the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency – the executive arm of the Committee – and support for its activities .
The Council condemned the Israeli policy aimed at liquidating UNRWA and closing its headquarters and schools in the city of Jerusalem, which constitutes an unacceptable attempt to obliterate the refugee issue, which is an integral part of the final status issues, and called for securing political, legal and financial support for UNRWA, and protecting it with its centers and staff.
He expressed his rejection of any decision that violates the legal status of the city of Jerusalem, including the transfer of diplomatic missions to it, and called on Argentina not to move its embassy to it, which would cause serious damage to Arab-Argentine relations at all levels, and constitutes a grave violation of international law, United Nations resolutions related to Jerusalem, and an aggression against the rights of the Palestinian people .
He condemned the Israeli Knesset’s approval of the law to execute Palestinian prisoners, as it represents a grave violation of international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which guarantees the protection of prisoners and prohibits cruel or inhuman treatment.
Israel, the illegal occupying power, bears full responsibility for the legal and humanitarian repercussions of this racist law, and emphasizes that the Knesset’s approval of imposing the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners exclusively, and no others, is nothing but a consecration of the apartheid regime imposed by the illegal occupying forces, and a further violation of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
The University Council condemned the occupation’s unprecedented measures against Palestinian prisoners, including torture, starvation, denial of appropriate medical treatment, increased search campaigns and solitary confinement, continuous transfers of leaders of the prisoner movement, deportation after release from captivity, in addition to the adoption of racist legislation that allows for the denial of their human rights guaranteed by international law .
He called on the international community, particularly the Security Council and the Human Rights Council, to assume their responsibilities and intervene urgently to compel the occupying government to repeal this unjust racist law, release all prisoners and detainees and the bodies of martyrs, abandon the policy of punishment and revenge against prisoners, and abide by international laws and resolutions relating to the treatment of prisoners and detainees in the occupation prisons, including international humanitarian law, the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the Convention against Torture, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights .
He welcomed the positions issued by countries around the world, including a number of European Union countries, that condemned and rejected the law to execute Palestinian prisoners, considering it to be in conflict with the rules of international humanitarian law and the principles of human rights.
He called upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to assume their responsibilities and ensure respect for and enforcement of the Convention in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, by providing international protection for the Palestinian people, repealing and nullifying the unjust racist law on the execution of prisoners, and stopping Israeli crimes and violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law .
The Council urged the International Criminal Court to open an urgent international criminal investigation into the passage of the law authorizing the execution of prisoners, and to prosecute the Israeli officials responsible.
He also called on the ongoing international fact-finding committee, emanating from the Human Rights Council, to immediately investigate the torture, starvation and inhumane conditions imposed by the occupation authorities on prisoners, in addition to passing the unjust racist law to execute prisoners, and to work to gain access to the occupation prisons to see the violations committed against prisoners .
The Arab League Council also called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to fulfill its duty and intensify its intervention in accordance with its statute, in order to gain immediate and unrestricted access to all Israeli prisons and detention centers .
The Council called for the activation of the legal monitoring unit emanating from the joint Arab and Islamic summit to monitor and document any application of the racist death penalty law, in preparation for its use before the relevant international courts, and called on Palestinian and international human rights institutions to submit periodic documented reports on the conditions of prisoners .
The Council of the League of Arab States urged the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Arab Parliament, and the national Arab parliaments to work to freeze the membership of the Israeli Knesset in the Inter-Parliamentary Union and all parliamentary frameworks and assemblies, and to impose punitive measures on it and its members, considering it a legislative institution affiliated with an authority that carries out the illegal occupation, and complicit in enacting and legislating laws that perpetuate the illegal occupation and the apartheid regime .
He called upon the General Secretariat of the League, the Arab groups in international organizations, the Councils of Arab Ambassadors and the missions of the League of Arab States around the world to take urgent action at all levels to convey the contents of this resolution to the capitals and international organizations, through visits, messages and bilateral and multilateral meetings .
The University Council requested the Secretary-General to follow up on the implementation of this decision and to submit a report on the actions taken regarding it to the next session of the Council .
The State of Palestine’s delegation was headed by its representative to the League of Arab States, Ambassador Muhannad Al-Aklouk, in the presence of First Counselor Rizq Al-Za’anin, First Counselor Tamer Al-Tayeb, Counselor Jumana Al-Ghoul, First Secretary Reham Al-Barghouthi, Third Secretary Maher Masoud, and Third Secretary Ola Amer.
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A.W./R.H
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