Zimbabwean News You Can Trust
Zimbabwe has condemned the “brutal” assault of Palestinian worshippers at the Al Aqsa Mosque by Israeli security forces.
The religious war which started on April 5 has injured many and led to the arrest of hundred of Innocent Palestinian worshippers.
In a statement the ministry of foreign affairs said the attacks violates the International Human Rights and Humanitarian law.
“These incursions by Israeli forces are in flagrant violation of the longstanding agreement preventing non Muslims from holding rituals at the site which is Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina that has been in place since 1967.
“Israel as the occupying power has binding obligations under International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law accord maximum and unconditional protection to all Palestinians in the occupied territories including guaranteeing freedom of worship.
“The Ministry of foreign Affairs and International Trade of the Republic of Zimbabwe calls on the government of Israel to unconditionally withdraw it’s occupying forces from this holy site in order to deescalate the tensions arising from it’s unilateral actions,” reads the statement.
Zimbabwe’s clarion call comes after the state of Palestine recently denounced the current attacks while calling for human rights organizations to condemn and hold Apartheid Israel accountable for these “heinous” crimes.
In a statement the embassy of the State of Palestine in Harare said, “We call on the progressive peoples, governments and human rights organizations to condemn and hold Apartheid Israel accountable for these heinous crimes and protect our people. The State of Palestine requests UNSC to urgently devise effective measures to ensure the protection of worshippers and the full respect for the historic and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“The Palestinian people will continue to exercise their right to defend Jerusalem, its mosques and churches from the ongoing Israeli aggression which is meant to Judaize the holy city of Jerusalem.”
However, in a statement Israeli police said they were forced to enter the compound after “masked agitators” locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones.
“When the police entered, stones were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators,” the statement said, adding that a police officer was wounded in the leg.
Tension has already been high in occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank for months. There are fears of further violence as important religious festivals – the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover – converge.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe foreign ministry said it supports the “International community in the revival of a political process which will lead to the realization of a two state solution”
The conflict between Israeli and Palestine is over whether or not Palestinians should be able to form its own separate country in government within a part of the land that is currently controlled by Israel.