President visits Al Masjid Al Aqssa

President Dr Mohamed Waheed has visited Al Masjid Al Aqssa as part of his ongoing visit to Palestine.

The President’s Office said that the president met with the Imam of the mosque, and inquired about the history of the mosque.

The president departed to Palestine on 4 June.

He gave a speech to inaugurate the Fourth International Islamic Conference of Bait-al Maqdis on 5 June, in which he said that the children of Palestine should not be denied hope, and that it is not fair that Palestinian children should grow up without a country of their own.

“We cannot talk about Bait-ul Maqdis without talking about the plight and the future of Palestine. Time and time again, the world has let down the Palestinians, perhaps reluctant to take sides in a so-called religious problem. Too many people have come to accept the conflict as unsolvable because of the long time it has taken. Perhaps unwilling or perhaps unable to take a firm and defiant stand. But the question of Palestine is not a Muslim or a Jewish problem: it is a human problem. Children of Palestine should not be denied hope.

“It is not fair that Palestinian children should grow up without a country of their own? It will not help to establish lasting peace of the children have to grow up with suspicion and insecurity. The leaders of Palestine and Israel owe a peaceful and a secure future for their children.”

He said that the Maldives’ position on the question of Palestine is very clear, and that Maldives supports a two state solution where an indulgent population will exist in peace with Israel. He said that the Maldives also supports the establishment of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the lands occupied in the 1967 war.

The president said that the Maldives supports the Arab Peace Plan of 2002 and the recent efforts to revive it, and that the Maldives is encouraged by some of the positive reactions coming from Israel on the Arab Initiative.

“This is the time for action. The time to engage, to debate and to listen. It is time for the world to listen to Palestinians on Bait-ul Maqdis and issues regarding its sovereignty.”