Foreword
Since its
inception in 1982, the Islamic Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organisation -ISESCO- has made the
championing of the Palestinian cause, in general, and
the protection of the Islamic and Christian holy sites
in Palestine in particular, one of its top priorities.
This keen interest manifests itself in the dozens of
programmes and activities implemented by the
Organisation over its twenty-three years in the various
fields and aspects pertaining to this crucial issue.
Among the most important of these activities were the
international symposium convened in 1993 by the Islamic
Organisation in Rabat on “Al Quds, its Cultural and
Civilisational Heritage within the framework of Islamic-Christian
Dialogue”, and the two international symposiums
organised around the theme of “Protection of Islamic and
Christian Holy Sites in Palestine”. The first of these
was held under the high patronage of His Majesty King
Mohammed VI in Rabat in 2002, and the second one
convened in Amman in 2004 under the high patronage of
His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Hussein.
This royal
attention and the patronage of the Moroccan and
Jordanian monarchs of these two international events
were a crowning moment that capped ISESCO’s efforts to
protect the cultural, civilizational and historical
heritage of Al Quds Al Sharif, Jericho, Bethlehem and
many other Palestinian towns and villages. This royal
attention also reflects the high status that the
Palestinian cause holds in the heart of every Muslim,
and is an expression of a profound appreciation of the
Islamic Organization’s efforts and of the collective
determination to resort to all legal, diplomatic and
political means in order to ensure the protection of
Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine. This
determination is shared by Muslims and Christians alike,
and by all free and peace-loving people in the world.
The 2nd
International Conference on the Protection of Islamic
and Christians Holy Sites in Palestine was held in the
Jordanian capital in cooperation with the Kuwait-based
International Islamic Charitable Organization, the
Ministry of Waqf, and Religious Affairs in the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan and the National Jordanian Commission
for Education, Culture and Sciences. This conference,
the proceedings of which we are publishing today in this
book, has provided an opportunity for a select group of
Muslim scholars and Christian clergy, thinkers,
historians and academics, to raise their voices in
denunciation, supported by documents, solid arguments
and irrefutable historical evidence, of the crimes
perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against the
Palestinian people, their Islamic and Christian holy
sites and their cultural heritage and historical
monuments. Propped up by the participation of this
Muslim and Christian elite and by eminent experts in the
region’s archaeology and general history, this
international conference has once again served, as a
platform for exposing Israeli crimes against humanity
and its religious and cultural heritage. Indeed, holy
sites in Palestine are the property of all Muslims and
all Christians throughout the world, and are part and
parcel of humanity's universal heritage. This
commonality calls for a joining of efforts on the part
of the whole international community. The objective of
this collective mobilisation is to bring pressure to
bear on Israel to adhere to international resolutions,
to refrain from its relentless aggressions against these
holy sites, and to abide by international law regarding
the total withdrawal from the Palestinian lands occupied
in 1967, and to desist from carrying out all acts of
demolition, destruction, distortion and obliteration of
Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine.
Today, the
Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation -ISESCO- is publishing this documenting
book in cooperation with the International Islamic
Charitable Organization, as it published in 2003 the
proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the
Protection of Islamic and Christian Holy Sites in
Palestine, and as it put out in 1995 the equally
important proceedings of the Symposium on Al Quds and
its Cultural and Civilisational Heritage. In so doing,
the Organisation is hopeful that this endeavour would
contribute to enlightening the world public opinion,
exposing the crimes of the Israeli occupation, and
providing irrefutable evidence of how Israel is wreaking
havoc in Palestine and seriously damaging the Islamic
and Christian holy sites there.
May Allah,
our Guide to the right path, grant us success.
Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri
Mr. Youssef Jassim Al Haji
Director General of the Islamic
President
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
The International Islamic
Charitable Organization
Organization -ISESCO-
