Final Statement

and Recommendations

Under the high patronage of His Hashemite Majesty the exalted King Abdullah Ibn Al Hussein, Monarch of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation -ISESCO- and the International Islamic Charitable Organization in Kuwait (Palestine Charity Commission) in co-operation with the Jordanian National Commission for Education, Culture and Sciences, organised in Amman, from 10 to 12 Shawal 1425 corresponding to 23 to 25 November 2004, the 2nd International Conference on the Protection of Islamic and Christian Holy Sites in Palestine. The conference was attended by a delegation from Palestine led by His Excellency Mr. Yahya Yakhlef, Minister of Culture, His Eminence Sheikh Ikrema Said Sabri, Mufti General of Al Quds and Palestine, a host of scholars and scientists, culture, law  and media from the Arab and Islamic world, as well as the representatives of international and Islamic organisations and community and charity institutions.

After the reading of the royal greeting message, and the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran, His Eminence Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Heleel, Minister of Waqf (Islamic Endowments) and Islamic Affairs and Sanctities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, who was delegated by the patron of the Conference, His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, May Allah preserve him, delivered an address in which he highlighted the significance of His Majesty’s patronage of this Conference and the tireless efforts exerted by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to preserve Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine and in Al Quds, true to the tradition of the Hashemite family. He called upon the Islamic world to engage in further co-operation, consultation and co-ordination in all aspects related to the theme of the Conference and at the levels of international and regional organisations at the forefront of which is the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

His Eminence underscored the role played by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, under the leadership of its august monarch, His Majesty King Abdullah II, in the protection of Islamic and Christian holy sites. The most recent manifestation of these endeavours was the building of a new minaret in Al Aqsa Mosque, the restoration, maintenance and reinforcement of the structure of Al Marwani mosque and the rebuilding of the minbar of Salah Eddine El Ayyoubi. He reiterated the keen interest that the Hashemite Kingdom takes in co-operation with Islamic and Christian institutions in Palestine and with the Palestinian National Authority in its drive to restore and rebuild holy places in Palestine. He also extolled the efforts of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and its Director General, Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri whose role in supporting educational, scientific and cultural institutions and protecting sacred placed in Palestine is remarkable and worthy of praise.

Concluding his address, His Eminence the Minister conveyed his Majesty’s wishes of success for the Conference attendees’ work and of a pleasant stay in their second country, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation -ISESCO-  then took the floor and delivered an address at the onset of which he expressed his heartfelt thanks and gratitude to His Hashemite Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein for having gracefully accepted to honour  the Conference with his high patronage, a gesture that reflects His Majesty’s attachment to the holy sites located in the land of all prophets, Palestine, and confirms a stance of the Hashemite family that the whole modern world is witness to, namely their attachment and dedication to the defence and protection of holy sites in Palestine.

The Director General of ISESCO then prayed for the soul of the son of bereaved Palestine and of Arabhood, the late leader Yasser Arafat, beseeching the Almighty to grant the Palestinian people strength and fortitude. He pointed out that the passing away of the Palestinian leader was a great loss for the Islamic Ummah, and expressed his confidence that his comrades and brothers in arms in the legitimate and just Palestinian struggle will continue his march for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital. He also called for exposing and confronting the hegemonic Israeli occupier who persists, day after day, in his onslaught against Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine and perseveres in his obstinacy and disregard for all international appeals, statements and resolutions related to the situation in Palestine in all its aspects. Dr. Altwaijri also reiterated the de facto commitment of the Islamic Organisation to the protection of holy sites in Palestine and to the support of the just causes of the Palestinian people and their right to establish their independent state with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital. He announced the Organisation’s decision to devise and implement an international media plan aimed at mobilising international public opinion through a sound information campaign that would have a wide impact, popularise Palestine’s just cause and expose Israeli acts of aggression against Islamic and Christian sanctities there.

The next address was delivered by Dr. Nader Abdulaziz An-Nuri, representative of the International Islamic Charitable Organization who started by drawing attention to the difficult juncture in which the Conference was being held, namely the ongoing onslaught launched against Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine. After reviewing the endeavours of Muslims in protecting these holy sites, particularly the Covenant of Omar, he called upon the Islamic world to follow in the steps of the rightly-guided caliphs and companions, revitalise local laws and international conventions that may put an end to and foil Israeli aggressions against these sanctities. He also pressed for the devising of a media plan for the protection of Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine.

Dr. An-Nuri concluded his address by extending his thanks and gratitude to His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Hussein, Monarch of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, for his gracious patronage of the Conference and its attendees. He equally conveyed his thanks and appreciation to His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Director General of the Islamic Organisation -ISESCO- for his praiseworthy efforts in fostering and consolidating co-operation among the states and organisations of the Islamic world, including the International Islamic Charitable Organization in Kuwait which takes great pride in the fruits of its co-operation with ISESCO.

In his address, the representative of the State of Palestine, His Excellency Mr. Yahya Yakhlef, Minister of Culture, extended thanks and gratitude to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, King, government and people, for the continuous support lent to the Palestinian National Authority and its various governmental and community institutions and bodies. He also expressed his highest consideration to the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, to the International Islamic Charitable Organization, and to the National Jordanian Commission for Education, Culture and Sciences for the commendable initiative of holding a Conference that strives to protect Islamic and Christian sanctities in occupied Palestine, and to shed light on the dangers besieging the city of Al Quds Al Sharif. These dangers are embodied in the judaisation efforts and attempts to change the city’s character and modify its social fabric, desecrate its sanctity and encircle and isolate it from the rest of Palestine. He recalled the struggle of the leader and eternal icon, the late President Yasser Arafat, who harbors Al Quds in his heart and his mind and who had repeated, until he breathed his last, the words : “He who surrenders an iota of soil of Al Quds Al Sharif is not one of us”.

Mr. Yahya Yakhlef pointed out that the emphasis placed by this Conference on the elaboration of a media plan to expose the aggressions and violations that the city of Al Quds is subjected to, is an instrumental contribution towards protecting the city and its sanctities, as well as a commendable endeavour that necessitates further efforts in order to take its place at the forefront of the concerns of the Arab, Islamic and international communities, and among the agendas of the United Nations, international conferences and gatherings and the world public opinion. He called upon UNESCO, the body in charge of protecting cultural heritage, to discharge its responsibility vis-à-vis the city of Al Quds.

The Conference began its proceedings in the afternoon of the 23rd November 2004. Five working sessions were held in accordance with the agenda approved by the participants. The sessions were punctuated by a number of discussions and observations made by the attendees, as well as general discussions that followed the presentation of a number of studies and working papers delivered within the framework of the Conference’s fours axes:

1- Islamic and Christian Holy Sites in Palestine : Threatening Dangers and Survival Prospects

2- General guidelines of the draft media plan for popularising issues related to Al Quds Al Sharif, and the plan’s implementation mechanisms.

3- Role of national, regional and international organisations and community institutions in the protection of Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine.

4- Mechanisms for revitalising local laws and international conventions for the protection of holy sites.

First : Axes of Discussions and Comments

A- The Conference addressed the case of Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine in the light of the dangers besieging them and the escalation by the Israeli occupation forces of their barbarous onslaught on the Palestinian people with all its denominations, regions, institutions and sanctities, which aggression has caused many tragedies, dangers and horrors that threaten world peace and security. The Conference condemned the crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel against the occupied Palestinian territories and which have reached unprecedented extremes in tyranny, injustice, hostility and arrogance and hegemony. The Israeli aggression has spared neither man, nor edifices and building, places of worship such as mosques, churches, zawiyas and sanctuaries, showing nor respect for even graves and mausoleums. The Conference also denounced Israeli attempts to rename many of the Islamic holy places at international forums and present them as Jewish heritage. It drew attention to the dangers surrounding these sanctities and to the responsibility that falls upon the shoulders of Muslims and Christians around the world, and the role they should play in the protection of this heritage. Indeed, this heritage represents a shared universal human, religious and civilisational legacy, and an outstanding cultural and social symbol that embodies many forms of spiritual and faithful attachment and where a myriad of religious rites and cultural practices blend.

B- The Conference welcomed the initiative of a draft media plan to expose Israeli aggressions and violations in the city of Al Quds Al Sharif and the Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine. It called upon all Muslim and Christian decision makers, as well as international and regional organisations and relevant civil society role-players to define the mechanisms for this information strategy which should be comprehensive, objective, efficient and realistic, keeping in mind today’s critical juncture marked as it is by Israeli tyranny, American partiality and international indifference. The Conference reaffirmed that the status quo of current policies will only lead to falling in the trap of the quest for a final settlement, which is no more than a crafty ploy aimed at gaining more time in which to complete the judaisation of the city of Al Quds and the annihilation of all the Islamic and Christian religious and civilisational heritage in Palestine.

Similarly, the Conference discussed the plan’s objectives, its general guidelines, foundations, steps, components and the basic stages of its elaboration and implementation. The Conference also adopted a number of supportive models and projects.

C- The Conference discussed with appreciation the reports of a number of international and regional organisations and regional and charity institutions, detailing their efforts and programmes with regard to the protection of Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine and the preservation of its heritage and the identity of its people. The Conference appealed to UNESCO, ISESCO and ALECSO to expose Israeli practices and crimes affecting sanctities in Palestine and invited them to co-ordinate and cooperate in providing the necessary financial and technical assistance for their rescue and protection. The conference stressed that these sanctities were part of a lofty human heritage and of the religious history of the region, pointing out that their protection is the responsibility of the international community and international and regional entities. The Conference also emphasised the importance of these organisations’ action and of co-ordination among them in bringing pressure to bear on the Israeli government to withdraw from all occupied Arab and Palestinian lands, including Al Quds Al Sharif, capital of the State of Palestine.

D- The Conference expressed its condemnation of Israel’s violation of all international resolutions and the principles of international law, justice and international legitimacy, as represented by the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations and UNESCO. It also denounced Israel’s attempts to manipulate the opinion and consciousness of the international community, following in this ploy a dangerous strategy that consists of convincing the West of the legitimacy of its onslaught on sanctities in Palestine, exploiting legal loopholes in national legislation and international laws as a means of convincing the West and America that Israel is defenceless and targeted for being a haven of modernity and democracy and a real champion of “Christian-Jewish civilisation” values in the Middle East.

Furthermore, the Conference identified a number of priorities and mechanisms at the legal level that may help protect Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine.

Second : Recommendations

Before concluding its works, the Conference issued the following recommendations:

1- Calling upon the international community and all partisans of Palestinian inalienable rights to expose the oppressive practices of Israeli occupation forces, such as the demolition of holy places, the aggressions perpetrated against the people, the land and the buildings, murders crimes, assassination, displacement, exile, imprisonment, demolition, uprooting fruit-bearing trees, bulldozing agricultural lands, building the discriminatory separation wall and safety belt, starving the Palestinian people and exercising political, economic and security pressures on all its institutions with the aim of disabling them.

2- Producing films and books in foreign languages that highlight the historical Arab right to Al Quds Al Sharif through the tangible findings of history (archaeological excavations), so as to counterbalance Israel’s distortion of the written history of Al Quds and Palestine.

3- Exposing the practices of the Israeli occupation against freedom of worship, besieging Al Aqsa Mosque, the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al Khalil and the Church of Resurrection in Al Quds, and preventing the devout from accessing these places, while allowing radical Jewish parties to desecrate the sanctity of Al Aqsa Mosque.

4- Supporting Islamic and Christian educational and charity institutions in Palestine to enable them to discharge their mission and to consolidate the Palestinian presence there, particularly in Al Quds, and to emphasise the importance of removing all derogatory facts about the faiths of Muslims and Christians contained in Islamic and Christian school curricula.

5- Fostering Islamic-Christian solidarity by including within Muslim delegations, active in the field of publicising Palestine’s cause at international forums and defending its sanctuaries, representatives of the Palestinian churches who can serve as a link between the Muslim and Christian religions.

6- Elaborating a well-devised strategy to confront the programme of Jewish immigration to Palestine which represents the cornerstone and main objective of the Zionist project, as well as its means of imposing demographic and geographical modifications in occupied Palestinian territories.

7- Devising a modern strategy with clear guidelines, objectives and content and well-devised mechanisms, focusing on the language of truth and based on persuasive arguments. This strategy would have as objective the education of people and their sensitisation about the Palestinian cause, and urge Muslim and Christian competencies in the West to contribute to achieving the desired objectives.

8- Calling for the organisation of Islamic-Islamic and Christian-Christian gatherings as a prelude to an Islamic-Christian front to resist the incessant Israeli aggressions on man first, before holy sites.

9- Organising a roving exhibition on Al Quds Al Sharif as a physical instrument of winning over the world public opinion by disseminating real facts that refute the fallacies and allegations of the Zionist media, confirming the Arab identity of Al Quds and exposing the tyrannical practices and massacres perpetrated by Israeli authorities.

10- Adopting a progressive Arab (Islamic-Christian) media discourse that differs from the current one by relying on solid and persuasive argumentation that is likely to convince the Western mind. This discourse is to be adopted by a number of Arab channels, in different languages, and may include documentary films about the civilisation and holy sites of Al Quds.

11- Drawing up a geographical, political and social atlas in modern languages on the status of Al Quds Al Sharif, documenting Israeli crimes and onslaught on sanctities in Palestine, publishing, and distributing this atlas in western countries and in the rest of the world.

12- Produce a documentary film in modern languages on the Israeli massacres and attacks that have targeted Islamic and Christian holy places in Palestine. The film can be distributed on tape to all world satellite channels, and in compact discs to human rights organisations and cultural, information and legal institutions sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

13- Encouraging the establishment of co-operation relations, twinning and exchange of visits between the institutions of Muslim and Christian expatriate communities and Palestinians, through establishing cultural relations, economic investments and creating charity associations supportive of projects aimed at the protection of sanctities in Palestine.

14- Calling upon UNESCO, ISESCO, ALECSO, the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World, the Federation of Arab Universities and other relevant institutions to devise curricula on Al Quds for secondary and primary schools, and to request educational institutions in the Islamic world to incorporate them in their school curricula.

15- Calling upon ISESCO to open a page on the internet dedicated to the presentation of Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine, highlighting the dangers that threaten them and exposing Israeli ploys to judaise, destroy, obliterate and rename them.

16- Encouraging co-operation between international and regional organisations, UNESCO, ISESCO, ALECSO and the International Islamic Charitable Organization in Kuwait (Palestine Charity Commission) in particular, to draw up a complete programme for identifying the needs and to propose practical solutions for the protection of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine.

17- Commending the initiative of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the Arab Organisation of Young Lawyers and the Moroccan Association for the Support of the Palestinian Struggle, to create an international observatory of Israeli war crimes in Palestine, and to urge countries and national, regional and international organisations and entities to extend all forms of support to this observatory. This support will enable the observatory to expose these crimes with documented evidence, inform the international public opinion about the danger of Israeli practices and crimes and what they represent in terms of violation of human rights and disregard for international legitimacy and United Nations resolutions.

18- Inviting the Federation of Arab Lawyers and the Arab Organisation of Young Lawyers to form a specialised legal team to draw up legal instruments for the defence of the occupied Arab territories, particularly Al Quds Al Sharif, the protection of Islamic and Christian holy sites, and for co-operation with international bodies in implementing applicable international laws.

19- Appealing to the international community and human rights and media organisations to exercise political and diplomatic pressures on the Israeli government to halt the construction of the discriminatory separation wall and to destroy the parts it has built in implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the relevant international bodies.

20- Inviting the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League to prepare legal studies and conduct consultations and meetings necessary for the conclusion of an international convention on the protection of holy places and sanctities in all parts of the world in general and in occupied territories in particular.

21- Sensitising Muslim and Christian human rights activists about the importance of combining efforts and co-operation in developing and revitalising international laws that would protect sanctities, and fill up any loopholes and shortcomings that may be exploited by the Israeli occupation forces to justify their onslaught on Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine.

22- Inviting the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to negotiate with Arab satellite channels broadcasting in English for the allocation of television air time to programmes that publicise the cause of Al Quds and Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine, and appeal to all OIC Member States and Islamic cultural and banking institutions to provide the necessary financing for this.

23- Commending ISESCO’s initiative to publish and distribute in the most widely used languages (Arabic, French and English) a report that documents, through photographs and testimonies, the crimes of the Israeli army in Jenine and the horrific massacres perpetrated against the Palestinian people, their sanctities, heritage and institutions; and calling upon this Organisation to organise special training sessions to help Muslim advocates, media workers and human rights activists acquire the skills and expertise necessary for cataloguing  the Israeli violations and crimes and documenting them with the relevant criminal evidence.

24- Calling upon the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the International Islamic Charitable Organization in Kuwait to translate the proceedings of the present conference into English and French, and to publish and distribute them as widely as possible to all parties concerned about the protection of sanctities.

25- Entrusting ISESCO with the task of setting up a specialised task force in charge of devising the draft media plan and the mechanisms for its implementation; the plan would then be submitted to Arab and Islamic conferences for support.

26- Commending the agreement reached between ISESCO and the International Islamic Charitable Organization to organise a third international conference on the protection of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine in 2005, and to welcome the invitation extended by the head of the Palestinian Charity Commission to have it hosted by the Charity Commission in Kuwait.

The closing session of the Conference, held on 25 November 2004, was attended by His Excellency Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Heleel, Minister of Waqf and Islamic Affairs and Sanctities and representative of His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Hussein, His Excellency Dr. Khaled Tawqan, Minister of Education in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Director General of ISESCO, His Eminence Dr. Nader Abdualziz An-Nuri, Head of the Palestinian Charity Commission, and His Eminence Sheikh Dr. Ikrema Said Sabri, Grand Mufti of Al Quds and Palestine. During this session, the participants adopted the final statement and recommendations issued by the Conference.

The Conference applauded the Islamic Organisation and its Director General, Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, and the International Islamic Charitable Organization and its President His Excellency Mr. Yusuf Jassem Al Hajji, for the highly commendable initiative to organise the second session of this Conference which is a success by all standards and at all levels. They equally praised the diligent co-operation of the National Jordanian Commission for Education, Culture and Sciences in organising the Conference. Heartfelt thanks and expressions of gratitude were conveyed to His Excellency Dr. Ahmad Heleel, Minister of Waqf and Islamic Affairs and Sanctities and to His Excellency Dr. Khaled Tawqan, Minister of Education and head of the National Jordanian Commission, for their outstanding efforts to hold this conference in optimal conditions.

The Conference closed with addressing a message of thanks and gratitude to His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Hussein for having graciously bestowed his royal patronage on the Conference and for the generous hospitality and warm welcome the participants enjoyed during their stay in their second home, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.