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UAE Condemns Israeli Attacks on Palestinians
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday condemned the latest conflict in Jerusalem, which it termed as "a massacre of Palestinians by Israeli forces," the official WAM news agency reported. The UAE called on the international community, especially the United States and the European Union, to "intervene and stop this carnage," which would destroy the Middle East peace process, said UAE Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Saif Saeed bin Sa'ed.
He made the remark during his meeting with the French Ambassador in the UAE Jean-Francois Thibault.
Bin Sa'ed reiterated his country's condemnation of Israel for its continuous violation of Islamic holy places and urged Israel to implement United Nations resolutions which called for its withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands, including East Jerusalem.
He warned that the issue of Jerusalem will continue to be explosive unless East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war, returns to Palestinian sovereignty as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.
During the meeting, Bin Sa'ed asked the French ambassador to relay his country's stance on the issue to France, which now chairs the European Union, expressing the hope that the EU would take a firm stand against the Israeli actions.
Meanwhile, Bin Sa'ed also met with Palestinian ambassador Khalid Taufiq on Sunday to discuss the latest developments in the light of the violent conflict between Palestinians and Israel.
The widely-criticized visit by Israeli right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon on Thursday to Al-Haram Al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, sparked Palestinian protests and clashes with Israeli forces, which later spread to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Latest reports said that 26 Palestinians were killed and 700 wounded by the Israeli forces.
Al-Haram Al-Sharif houses Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, Muslims' third holiest site. This area is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, which they say is the site of ancient Jewish temples, the most sacred shrine of the Judaism.
The sovereignty over the area is at the core of negotiations in the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
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