THE UN SECURITY Council will meet tomorrow to discuss the controversial visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound by an Israeli minister that has enraged Palestinians.

The 15-member Council will convene at 3pm (8pm Irish time) at the United Nations headquarters in New York following a request by the United Arab Emirates and China.

There have been fears yesterday’s visit by Israel’s new national security minister, firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir, could spark a war.

Ben-Gvir’s visit comes days after he took office as national security minister, with powers over the police, giving his decision to enter the highly sensitive site considerable weight.

Al-Aqsa mosque lies in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and is the third-holiest site in Islam. It is the most sacred place to Jews, who refer to it as Temple Mount.

Under a longstanding status quo, non-Muslims can visit the site at specific times but are not allowed to pray there.

In recent years, a growing number of Jews, most of them Israeli nationalists, have covertly prayed at the compound, a development decried by Palestinians.

Western governments warned such moves threaten the fragile arrangement at Jerusalem’s holy sites.

Ben-Gvir’s visit sparked a wave of international condemnation, including from the United States, a longstanding ally of Israel.

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, reiterated today that the Secretary-General “calls on all to refrain from steps that could escalate tensions in and around Jerusalem.”

The UN Security Council has adopted several resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the years and supports the two-state solution to peace in the Middle East.

 © AFP 2023