Cairo, Aug. 20 (Petra)-- Al-Azhar Al-Sharif has condemned the Israeli occupation’s decision to open tenders for the construction of around 1,200 settlement units in the E1 area east of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement, Al-Azhar said the plan constitutes an "open act of land theft" and a blatant aggression aimed at isolating Jerusalem and completely severing it from its geographical surroundings, while fragmenting the occupied West Bank and undermining the Palestinian people’s right to establish an independent state on their land, with Jerusalem as its capital.

Al-Azhar stressed that the settlement expansion carried out by the Israeli government constitutes systematic aggression and a flagrant violation of international resolutions. It said such actions would not have continued without what it described as the international community’s failure and its troubling silence toward policies aimed at imposing facts on the ground and seizing Palestinian land.

It called on the international community and United Nations institutions to take deterrent and binding measures to curb Israeli settlement expansion and hold Israel accountable for its violations against Palestinian land and people.

Al-Azhar also renewed its call on all free nations and people of conscience to stand with the steadfast Palestinian people and support their legitimate and inalienable rights.

//Petra// MF