Let’s call 2018 year of Jerusalem: Tayyeb

CAIRO – 17 January 2018: Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayyeb suggested calling 2018 the "Year of Jerusalem".

During his speech at the International Conference in support of Jerusalem on Wednesday, Tayyeb called on the regional organizations, such as the Arab league and the Islamic Cooperation Organization and other Arab non-governmental organizations to conduct a wide array of large-scale, Palestine-oriented activities and conferences to support the Palestinian cause.

“We are the reason for our own dismay; the conference is being held under frustrating conditions similar to dark clouds,” Tayyeb said, adding that [We] cannot stand and watch the Arab region being dismantled, while Zionism is trying to take on the leading role in the region.

“We have to take real and effective stances or we will be shamed by our grandsons and the upcoming generations.”

In this regard, Tayyeb asserted the importance of broadening and nurturing the awareness of the young generations about the Palestinian cause in general and Jerusalem’s historic status in particular through the schools and universities curricula.

“Our youth barely know anything about the historical status of Jerusalem and the importance of the whole cause to our present, unlike the Zionist settlers, who bring up their children to hate Arabs and fill them with historically-false ideologies and concepts."

Al-Azhar organized the International Conference in Support of Jerusalem that kicked off on Wednesday morning and witnessed the attendance of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Slated to run for two days, the conference started screening a documentary film about Al-Azhar's long standing efforts to support the Palestinian cause, and also contained other powerful on-the-ground footages from Palestine.

The conference hall received ministers and senior officials from Egypt and more than 80 other countries, and was adorned with a great three-dimensional constructs of Al-Aqsa Mosque with Palestinian flags on its right and left.


Earlier in December, Trump announced that he had decided to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel amid growing global and regional condemnations. Several protests accordingly broke out at U.S. embassies around the world.

For its part, Al-Azhar strongly condemned the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, describing it as an “illegitimate and reckless step” and an unacceptable attempt to falsify history.