During his meeting with the European Union's representative to Palestine, Ralph Trav, Shatyyeh said that the Israeli measures are aimed to prevent the flow of Palestinians into the Old City of Jerusalem, thus threatening the Palestinians’ existence in their future capital.

Shtayyeh stressed the need for European and international pressure on Israel to stop its illegal measures. He said that Israeli actions that include closing doors, setting up electronic gates and installing surveillance cameras at the Mosque yard are unacceptable. He also pointed out to the efforts of the occupation to exploit the events in order to implement the temporal and spatial division plans of al-Aqsa, as well as its efforts to reformulate Bab al-Amoud area.

He also called on the Arab League to play its role and implement the decisions of the previous Arab summits to protect Jerusalem and defend its sanctities as the duty and responsibility of all Arabs, as well as to provide the capabilities that the Arab summits have committed towards Jerusalem.

He said that the Israeli practices will double and escalate the Palestinian crisis with the Israeli side, where these practices in Jerusalem constitute a collective punishment against the citizens living and working in the Old City and its surroundings, as occupation deprives them of movement, work and normal life.

Shtayyeh added that the Palestinian leadership- in coordination with the Arab and Islamic parties- seeks to put an end to these practices through international institutions and pressure on Israel.