Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa al-Barghouti has said that the Israeli raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last ten days of Ramadan are a “dangerous incitement” that will arouse anger in Palestinians and Muslims, PalSawa.com reported on Monday. 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
“For those who seek an enduring Israeli-Palestinian peace it is deeply disappointing that a major Protestant denomination in the US with deep roots in the Middle East has chosen to be a cheerleader for those whose vision of peace does not include the State of Israel”, said Emily Soloff, AJC associate director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations. At least seven Palestinians were injured in the clashes, according to Palestinian medical officials.
Muslims refer to the site as the Noble Sanctuary, where they believe the Prophet Muhammad embarked on a night journey to heaven.
Israeli border police are seen inside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound after firing teargas or a smoke grenade in Jerusalem’s Old City, Sunday, Sep.
Calm later returned to the site, considered sacred to both Jews and Muslims and where clashes regularly occur.
He said that four young Palestinians had been arrested for disrupting the passage of the people other than Muslims to the site.
The al-Aqsa mosque compound is in the Old City of East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967 – in a move never recognised by the global community – as part of its occupation of the West Bank.
The 10 days, which began on Sunday, are the most solemn for Muslims and the period attracts the highest number of worshippers to the site. “Any alternative to the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would mean the demise of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, a view that is offensive to millions of Israelis and Jews around the world”.
Advertisement
The Al-Aqsa Mosque also became a flash point between Israelis and Palestinians in 2015, caused in part by an Israeli decision to limit entry to the holy site to men over the age of 50.
