Ammon News - Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs Secretary-General Abdullah Kanaan said Monday that the city of Jerusalem must remain a central issue on the international agenda despite escalating crises and regional and international conflicts.

He told Petra in an interview that the Israeli occupation (authority) never missed an opportunity, both internally and externally, to bolster its settlement policies and impose restrictions on Jerusalem, its people and holy sites.

Israel lately stepped up incursions into the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque, led by extremist settlers and protected by police, at a time of rising security tensions in the region, he said.

What is happening in Jerusalem is not a mere emergency, but a strategic priority for the far-right Israeli government, which requires international political and media action to expose and document violations and hold Israel accountable under international law, which recognizes Jerusalem as an occupied city, and calls for maintaining its historical status and cessation of all settlement activities and attacks on holy sites, he said.

Kanaan said the Israeli-Iranian conflict and the Russian-Ukrainian war should not be overlooked by the world for their importance.

In the meantime, the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian people, i.e. the killing, displacement, and massacres, drags on amid international silence and the absence of a serious will to stop the Israeli occupation, which continues in defiance of international law, threatening the security and peace of the region and the world.

He said Jordan, under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah II, the custodian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, will remain firm in supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights, no matter the challenges and sacrifices. Petra