Arab Parliament session concludes in Amman with reaffirming support for Hashemite Custodianship

AMMAN — The second session of the third legislative term of the Arab Parliament concluded in Amman on Thursday with renewing the parliament’s rejection of all attempts by the Israeli occupation to change the status quo and tamper with the Hashemite Custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. 

The Arab Parliament also praised the Jordanian role in protecting and maintaining the holy sites under the historical Hashemite Custodianship, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The Arab Parliament also stressed its support to the Jordan-run Department of Jerusalem Awqaf and Al Aqsa Mosque in protecting Al Haram Al Sharif from Israeli violations, reminding that the department is the sole and exclusive body tasked with administering all the affairs of Al Aqsa Mosque and Al Haram Al Sharif.

It also expressed its full support to the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, mainly the right to self-determination, ending the occupation, establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the right of return and releasing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

In this regard, the Arab Parliament called on the international community to hold an international peace conference to draw a mechanism to implement international legitimacy resolutions within a fixed timeframe to oblige Israel end its occupation of the Palestinian territories based on UN resolutions, international references and the 2002 Arab peace initiative. 

The Arab parliamentarians also called on the UN to create a fact-finding committee to pay a visit to Israeli prisons to detect violations faced by Palestinian prisoners.

The session also went over the political and security developments in Arab countries and efforts to reach political solutions in Yemen and Libya, and support Iraqi procedures aimed at maintaining its security and stability, in addition to welcoming the political agreement in Sudan and supporting Somalia to overcome terrorism.  

Lower House Speaker Abdulkarim Dughmi, during a press conference with Arab Parliament Speaker Adel Assoumi, said that His Majesty King Abdullah had issued directives to offer all facilitations to ensure the success of the Arab Parliament session.

The second session of the third legislative term of the Arab Parliament was chaired by Arab Parliament Speaker Adel Assoumi at Jordan’s Parliament, in the attendance of Lower House Speaker Abdulkarim Dughmi and Senate President Faisal Fayez. 

The four-year legislative term holds an annual ordinary session, starts in October and ends in June of the following year. The Arab Parliament’s bylaws allow holding non-ordinary sessions upon invitations by the parliament speaker or 15 members.

Speaking during the session, Dughmi stressed the importance of  applying parliamentary pressure on governments to open up new windows of cooperation towards achieving economic integration and handling the impacts of the pandemic.   

On the Jordanian-Egyptian-Iraqi partnership, Assoumi emphasised the Arab Parliament’s support for the trilateral cooperation mechanism, an added value to the joint Arab action. 

The session also focused on regional situations, reports related to Arab countries, in addition to discussing the latest developments and sharing committees’ reports, Petra added.