During the clashes, the police assaulted with clubs worshipers who were present at the side, including Feras Debes, coordinator of public relations at the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf at the holy site.
Advertisement
UNESECO strongly condemns the Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their holy site, and requests Israel to respect the historic status quo and to immediately stop these measures, a statement read.
He said the situation at the flashpoint religious site had been contained after police responded to stone-throwing Palestinian worshippers but that no arrests had been made.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said police intervened to allow visits to the site to continue without further incident after “having obtained information on masked youths” taking up positions in the mosque overnight and blocking its doors.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, meanwhile, denied that the Israeli authorities were planning to seal the Maghrebi Gate – used by non-Muslims to enter the Al-Aqsa compound – during the period.
A Palestinian man clears the damage at the entrance of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City after clashes erupted at the compound between Palestinians and Israeli police on June 26, 2016 during the holy month of Ramadan. He says police forces arrested 16 suspects in the disturbances.
The third holiest site in Islam, Al-Aqsa is also venerated as Judaism’s most holy place, as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.
Presbyterians for Middle East Peace released the book “Two States for Two Peoples” last week in an effort to persuade the Presbyterian Church USA to keep its support for the two-state solution and not to heed to the calls of BDS activists. It is located in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967 – in a move never recognised by the worldwide community – as part of its occupation of the West Bank.
Advertisement
This incident came weeks after UNESCO – the UN’s cultural arm – said the Temple Mount site, on which the Al-Aqsa Mosque is situated, is “an integral part of Palestine”.
