NOVANEWS
A group of Israeli settlers have stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in their latest act of violence against the holy site.
“Around 70 Jewish settlers stormed the al-Aqsa complex through the al-Magharbeh Gate under Israeli police protection,” Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, the director general of the Organization for Muslim Endowments and al-Aqsa Affairs, said on Monday.
Over the past weeks, the al-Aqsa Mosque has been the scene of clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli settlers and troops.
“The settlers wandered around the compound and attempted to perform Talmudic rituals, but Muslim worshippers stood up to them,” Khatib added.
Khatib also said that the Israeli police arrested three Palestinian worshippers inside the mosque compound’s al-Asbat Gate.
According to a recent report by the Organization for Muslim Endowments and al-Aqsa Affairs, nearly 14,000 Israelis, most of them extremist settlers, have stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound since the beginning of 2014.
In November alone, more than 1,200 Israelis – including 1,081 settlers, 104 soldiers and 22 Israeli intelligence officers – entered the place.
Israel has over the past decades tried to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population.
The assistant secretary general for Palestine and authority on issues in the occupied territories for the Arab League, Mohammed Sabih, said Israel has allocated some USD 17 billion to Judaize East Jerusalem al-Quds in the occupied West Bank.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, located in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, is a flashpoint holy site. The location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
