In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
We are the participants of the Al-Quds International Forum in Istanbul, with the sloganof: ‘The Face of Civilization, We Protect It’;At the conference, held during 15-17 November, 2007, more 5000 individuals attendedrepresenting intellectuals, Christian religious figures, political and intellectual leaders aswell as representatives of syndicates, institutions and the civil society, including literaryand media personalities;After studying the situation of the Palestinian people; the people who have stoodunwavering in the face of occupation and the trials of Judaiziation or eradication; thosewho are persevering to retrieve their human and political rights while facing unjust andcontinuing siege in Gaza and the West Bank; After discussions on the serious aggression, which the holy Christian and Islamic sitesare facing, especially the continuing excavations under the holy Aqsa Mosque which arethreatening it with collapse, as confirmed by the Turkish delegation reports; After discussions on the different situations the Ummah, the region, and the world as awhole have been through, especially the situation in the Arab and Muslim nations under occupation, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia;In clarification of the general foundations related to Al-Quds and the Palestinian cause,historically and practically, in the rights of the Palestinian people, humanitarian andpolitical, and in the nature of the continuing colonialist, Zionist occupation, we herebyissue the following declaration:
The Declaration of Istanbul in Support of Al-Quds
Saturday November 17, 2007
1.
Al-Quds, the city of peace, the cradle of civilization and the sacred and holy landwith which humans find tranquility, and with aggression on it, struggles and warserupt; it must remain as a an model of dialogue among civilizations and asymbol for the most sacred meanings of human forgiveness, justice andtolerance.
2.
Al-Quds, the authentic city which was built by tribes that came from Arabia, morethan 5000 years ago; they called it ‘
orsalim
’ or the city of peace. In spite of themany tribes that came onto the city, its people of the Arab Canines andPalestinians, and those who came after them in the waves of Arab tribes thatfollowed, continued to build it without discontinuity. They are the ones who gaveAl-Quds its Arab identity and they cannot be contested in any of their rights inthat land.
3.
The Zionist occupation of Al Quds – its Western part in 1948 and its Eastern partin 1967– is racist and terrorist, based on settlements and replacements. It goesagainst the flow of history and represents the remains of the colonialphenomenon that was based on injustice, oppression, and exaction of rights.
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