NEW YORK, The United Nations Wednesday renewed the call for upholding the status quo at the holy sites in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Responding to a question on what the United Nations (UN) will do with regards to Thursday’s settler intrusions into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which could elicit possible response on the part of Palestinian factions, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said: “Our position remains the same, is that we want to see the status quo as it remains to the holy sites.”
He added that the UN “urged all sides to ensure that there’s no provocative action, and that remains our message.”
Dujarric’s remarks came a day before Israeli police violently dispersed Palestinians who protested renewed settler intrusions into the flashpoint site, detaining over 50 and injuring some 40.
Violent confrontations erupted as police allowed dozens of settlers to barge their way into the courtyards of the site from the direction of the Moroccan Gate, known in Arabic as Bab al-Maghariba, in celebration of what they call Israel’s “Independence Day”, which saw the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 to one million indigenous Palestinians 74 years ago and turning them into refugees to establish a Jewish-majority state in Palestine.
The settlers waved the Israeli flag at Alqatanin Gate, located on the western side of the site, and sang Israel’s national anthem.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency