OIC Chief condemns Israeli decision to bulldoze Muslim Cemetery

Jeddah, November 03, SPA -- The Secretary General of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, has
expressed his strong condemnation of the decision made by an Israeli
court to allow bulldozing Maman-Allah cemetery in the City of Al
Quds, as the graveyard is an Islamic Waqf [endowed land] that
includes Islamic endowed buildings and the remains of tens of
thousands of Muslims, notably the Prophet's Companions, Muslim
martyrs and scholars.

In a press statement issued here today, the Secretary General
considered that the desecration of graves and the remains of dead
Muslims is a gross violation of the sanctity of the dead, just as it
is a blatant infringement of Muslim endowments built on the same
site.


Ihsanoglu noted that since Israel engaged in the desecration of the
graveyard and the exhumation of Muslim graves, the OIC has issued a
warning about the gravity of the Israeli attacks on Muslim graves.



The Secretary General said he also initiated contacts with the UN
Secretary General and the Director General of UNESCO and a number of
officials in the world to stop this flagrant aggression.


Ihsanoglu called upon the international community to intervene in
order to hold Israel from carrying through its criminal act and put
an immediate end to the desecration of Muslim cemeteries and
aggression against Muslim property and sacred sites.

--SPA