Al-Azhar condemns settlement project in the West Bank, says ‘It is a blatant act of land theft’

CAIRO – 20 August 2026: Al-Azhar strongly condemned the Israeli occupation's opening of tenders for the construction of approximately 1,200 settlement units in the area known as "E1," east of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank.

Al-Azhar affirmed that this plan constitutes a blatant act of land theft against the Palestinian people and a flagrant aggression aimed at isolating Jerusalem, completely separating it from its geographical surroundings, and fragmenting the West Bank to eliminate the Palestinian people's right to establish their state on their land with its eternal capital, Jerusalem.

Al-Azhar stressed that the settlement expansion being carried out by the extremist occupation government is a systematic aggression and a blatant violation of all international resolutions. It asserted that this escalation would not have occurred were it not for international inaction and suspicious silence regarding policies aimed at imposing a fait accompli and stealing land.

Al-Azhar called upon the international community and UN institutions to take deterrent and binding measures to curb this settlement expansion and hold the occupation accountable for its violations against the land and its people.

Furthermore, Al-Azhar renewed its call to all free countries and people of conscience to stand by the steadfast Palestinian people and support their legitimate, inalienable rights, praying to God Almighty to protect Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque from aggression and to spare the blood of the oppressed.