UN warns of ‘potential catastrophe’ if Al-Aqsa crisis isn’t resolved by Friday

Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, speaks to reporters outside the UN Security Council chambers in New York Monday. (AP)

CAIRO/JEDDAH: The Saudi Cabinet on Monday reaffirmed the Kingdom’s condemnation of Israel’s new measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque while the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) warned that the issue “is a red line” for Muslims ahead of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to discuss recent violence in occupied Palestine.
In New York, UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov warned that a solution was needed by Friday to the crisis, which he said threatens to have “potential catastrophic costs well beyond the walls of the Old City.”
In Washington, a senior official said US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt was heading to Jordan for talks about the peace process after meetings in Israel.
In Cairo, Arab League spokesman Mahmoud Afifi told Arab News that the League postponed a key meeting on the crisis until Thursday to ensure the largest possible number of participants.
The emergency meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday, was requested by Jordan and a number of member states in response to deadly violence in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank in recent days.
Jordan’s King Abdallah on Monday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove the new security measures.
Speaking to Netanyahu by phone, the king stressed “the need to find an immediate solution and remove the reasons for the ongoing crisis at the Haram Al-Sharif compound,” a royal palace statement said.
Palestinians view the security measures as a move by Israel to assert further control over the site. They have refused to enter the compound in protest, and have prayed in the streets outside.
“Attacking the Al-Aqsa Mosque in any way and under whatever pretext will have serious consequence and will lead to instability in the region,” the OIC said in a statement after its emergency meeting in Jeddah.
Foreign ministers of OIC states will meet in Istanbul on Aug. 1 for talks on the crisis, the statement added.
“Al-Quds (Jerusalem) is the central issue of the Islamic Ummah and the rationale for establishment of the OIC, a fact that requires member states to take action to support the people of Palestine at all international forums,” the OIC added.
Speaking in New York, Mladenov said he urged UNSC members to use their influence with Israel and the Palestinians to encourage them to de-escalate tensions and preserve access for worshippers.
“It is critically important that the status quo is preserved in Jerusalem,” Mladenov said after briefing the UNSC.
“The dangers on the ground will escalate if we go through another cycle of Friday prayer without a resolution to this current crisis.”
While the violence is taking place “over a couple of hundred square meters... they have the potential to have catastrophic costs well beyond the walls of the Old City, well beyond Israel and Palestine, well beyond the Middle East itself,” the envoy warned.
Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters that Netanyahu was working to calm the situation, but said: “We will do whatever is necessary to maintain security.”
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour accused Israel of “putting obstacles in the path of worshippers.”
He said the UNSC must demand that the metal detectors and cameras placed by Israel at the holy site be removed “completely and without conditions.”