CAIRO: Muslim clerics have initiated a campaign to collect one million signatures on a petition to be sent to United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon demanding the protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque from Israeli excavations. The campaign kick-started in the Qatari capital Doha, where clerics, including Egyptian Youssef Al-Qaradawi, gathered in an attempt to secure the million signatures from all over the Arab and Islamic world. Israeli construction work near the mosque has raised fears about the effect on the Al-Aqsa's foundations and led to an attack by Israeli troops on the mosque's Friday prayer worshippers as they attempted to protest the construction work. "One million signatures will be collected in defence of Al-Aqsa on the longest letter of its kind, which will be sent to the UN Secretary-General to underscore the sacred status of Al-Aqsa for all Muslims, Ayedh Al-Qahtani, an official from the Qatari Islamic charity behind the campaign, told the press. Experts believe the effectiveness of such a campaign would not have a far reaching impact. However, it is a positive precursor for future civil action. "I think this campaign is a way to appease Arab populations, especially for the powers that are orchestrating this campaign, rather than it having a tangible effect on halting the Israeli construction work, researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Nabil Abdel-Fatah told The Daily Star Egypt. Abdel-Fatah added: "At the same time, this campaign can be a precursor for future initiatives by civil society organizations advocating such projects. While doubting the effectiveness of this campaign on actual events in Jerusalem, Abdel-Fatah suggested other methods to resolve the situation on the ground. "Through the diplomatic relations that Egypt and Israel enjoy, maybe Egyptian experts can be sent on a fact-finding mission to the site to draw up a report on whether this is really renovation work or an attempt to dig for alleged Jewish artifacts buried beneath the mosque. An alternative, Abdel-Fatah said, would be to send a UN team to Jerusalem that will draft an international report to reassure Muslims the world over that the Israeli renovations bore no malice. "The status of Jerusalem is not yet settled. It is under military occupation and an attempt to conduct archaeological digs for Jewish artefacts is against international regulations, he said.
