15 February 2007
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has warned of tensions provoked by Israel's construction work near the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, but OIC leaders said they are opposed violence against the digging. "This is very dangerous. There is no (need for a) second opinion that it is dangerous," OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told reporters at the sidelines of a gathering of lawmakers from the OIC member state parliaments in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ihsanoglu added: "The issue is how to convince the Israeli government to stop the excavation."
Last Friday, 15 Israeli policemen and at least 20 Palestinians were wounded in clashes at near compound, considered the third-holiest site in Islam. Ihsanoglu called on Muslim countries to rally and pressure Israel to halt its activities, but urged Muslims against resorting to violence. "We do not want violence. We are against violence," Ihsanoglu said, expressing his hope that "common sense will prevail".
At least 25 Jordanian lawmakers have signed a petition urging their government to officially declare that Israel has "violated" the peace treaty concluded between the two countries in 1994 by going ahead with excavations near the al-Aqsa Mosque. The deputies want the government to recall the Jordanian ambassador from Tel Aviv and "dismiss" the Israeli ambassador from Amman, "Ha'aretz" reports. "We hereby urge the government to officially declare that Israel has violated the article 9 of the peace treaty by conducting excavations at al-Aqsa Mosque," the lawmakers said in their memorandum. Article 9 commits Israel to respect Jordan's role in looking after the Islamic and Christian holy shrines in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967.
Meanwhile, Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also reacted harshly to the excavation work at the Temple Mount. A Turkish newspaper quoted Erdogan as saying, "Turkey is disturbed and angered by Israel's actions, which raise tensions in the entire region." His Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert told the newspaper "Milliyet" that Erdogan was misinformed about the construction. Olmert insisted that the work was nowhere near the holy site. "I will show Erdogan photographs of the construction," the paper quoted Olmert as saying. "We will not touch any place that is sensitive to Islam." Olmert arrived in Turkey for a visit on Wednesday evening.
