Al-Azhar issued a statement today to declare its solidarity with the Coptic Church against Israeli attacks in the Sultan Monastery that was built by the Sultan Salah ad-Din Al-Ayyoubi who entrusted it to the Coptic Church.
This Coptic Orthodox monastery is located within the walls of the Old City of East Jerusalem. The importance of the Monastery of the Sultan to the Copts is that it is their direct route from the Monastery of St. Anthony to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This monastery is the seat of the Egyptian Patriarchate and the Coptic Church in Jerusalem. The occupation forces took over the monastery without right and gave it to the Ethiopian Church on 25 April 1970. Ever since, the Egyptian Church has been doing its best to recover it.
