PNN

Eighty-two Jordanian deputies urged Muslims on Monday to visit al-Quds (Jerusalem) to show solidarity with Palestinians, according to the Jordan Times.

The MPs signed a statement encouraging Speaker Saad Hayel Srour to urge Arab and Muslim parliamentarians to visit the holy city, which is under Israeli occupation.

Deputy Speaker Khalil Atiyeh spearheaded the statement saying, “This is part of our struggle to support our brothers in Palestine who should not be left without support and should not feel isolated,” according to the report.

Almost one year ago an influential Qatar-based cleric Youssef Qaradawi prohibited visits to al-Quds for non-Palestinians through a fatwa (religious edict), asserting that visits to the holy city while it remains under occupation is an act of “normalization with the enemy,” the report said.

Qaradawi’s command started a debate that occasionally resurfaces in the press and social media.

Jordanians are able to visit al-Quds, the West Bank and the rest of Palestine, but only through travel agencies and under strict regulations, which the Israeli authorities dictate.

East al-Quds was occupied by Israel in the 1967 war and annexed to the western area of the city, which has been under Israeli control since 1948. The annexation was never recognized by the international community, and East al-Quds is the desired capital for a future Palestinian state.