Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb said the Palestinian cause is the most important issue in the Middle East, stressing the necessity of reaching a “just solution” to the Palestinian cause. He made it clear “if this issue is not fully resolved, the whole world will not calm down and peace will not come our way as the Palestinian issue is a just cause.” He said that “the history of Arabs goes back to thousand years before Islam in Jerusalem. The basic component of Jerusalem community hasn’t changed since 5,000 years, but the only thing that has changed is the colonizer of this place.” In December, Azhar Grand Imam warned of repercussions of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to transfer the US embassy to it. Tayyeb said, Friday, that after Omar ibn al Khattāb entered Jerusalem, he allowed Christians and Jews religious freedom, in compliance with the sayings of Prophet Muhammad. Azhar Grand Imam pointed out that the capitation in the Pact of Umar is a taxation, unlike what is claimed that it is to impose submission. “It is a citizenship testimony for the non-Muslim in which Muslims defend him and lose souls to protect him,” he said. Tayyeb continued that, “Muslims had greater financial burdens, which is Zakat. The Muslim used to defend and fight more. But some might ask why the non-Muslims weren’t allowed in the army? The answer is that Muslims used to fight to defend a dogma" What has been stated in the Pact of Umar affirms that no Roman, Jewish or Jerusalem resident was killed, and the Islamic presence remained since that time till 1967.