Saudi cleric announces on-air plans to visit Occupied Jerusalem

Riyadh: A Saudi cleric has announced on his television show that he will visit occupied Jerusalem next week to bolster Muslim claims to the city.

If Shaikh Mohammad Al Areefi goes ahead with his plan, it would be an unprecedented trip for a prominent Saudi. Occupied Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, but most Muslim countries - including Saudi Arabia - observe a boycott of Israel and ban travel there.

Al Areefi told his viewers on Sunday on the religious satellite channel Iqra the next episode of his show would be about Muslim claims to Jerusalem and Palestine. Al Areefi said he would visit the city next week, though he did not specify when.

Al Areefi is viewed as a comparative moderate among Saudi Arabia's conservative clergy.