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On July 18th, Israeli policed stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and launched tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at worshippers at Islam’s third holiest site in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian media.
Israeli police forcefully evacuated Muslim worshippers to clear the way for the Jewish visitors in one of the most sensitive venues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, said Palestinian officials.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in a statement said it held “the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the escalation resulting from the Israeli incursion in the Al-Aqsa mosque complex in occupied Jerusalem”.
The PA called the Jewish visits provocative and a “serious threat to “security and stability”.
The Israeli police said that Palestinian “youths began throwing stones at the Temple Mount esplanade towards police forces, who dispersed them”.
Jordan’s Islamic Waqf, which administers the holy sites in the compound, condemned the “violations and attacks” carried out by “Jewish fanatic groups, with the support and political cover of the Israeli government,” it said in a statement carried by official Palestinian website Wafa, claiming Israel was “aiming for a religious war”.
“The Israeli actions against the mosque are rejected and condemned, and represent a violation of the historical and legal status quo, international law and Israel’s obligations as an occupying power in East Jerusalem,” spokesman for Jordan’s foreign ministry, Daifallah Al-Fayez, said in a statement on July 18th.
On its part, the EU delegation to the Palestinian territories in a tweet said it was “concerned over ongoing tensions” and urged that there be no “acts of incitement”.
It also called for respect for the site’s status quo and urged Israeli, religious and community leaders to urgently “calm down this explosive situation”.
Concerned over ongoing tensions around the Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount. Acts of incitement have to be avoided and the status quo respected. Israeli authorities, religious, and community leaders from all sides should act urgently to calm down this explosive situation.
— EU and Palestinians (@EUpalestinians) July 18, 2021
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett directed that Jewish tourist visits there “continue, while maintaining order at the site”, he said in an official statement after the incident.
In a second statement following the Waqf and PA condemnations, Bennett stressed that “freedom of worship on the Temple Mount will be fully preserved for Muslims as well”, pointing to the upcoming festival of Eid al-Adha.
July 18th also marked the Jewish festival of Tisha B’Av, which typically sees an increase in Israeli visitors to the holy site.
Two years ago, when the Jewish and Muslim holidays coincided, dozens of Palestinians were wounded by Israeli forces and seven others were arrested.
The area is in Jerusalem’s walled Old City and part of the territory Israel captured in a 1967 Middle East war. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, in a step that was never recognized by the international community.
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The Israeli apartheid state continues as the Western nations espouse their fake democracies and ignore the reality whilst Palestinians are being brutalised by the Israeli regime.
Sums it up.
sub-human versus sub-human, fiction versus fiction, goyim versus goyim. It is how the animals worship their false gods.
I can’t believe this injustices, jews get arrested while Muslims pray
Its a mosque dipshit, of course its a place to pray.
Do muslims tourists move jewish worshippers at gunpoint from the “wall”?
Of course not! Its the zionist barbarians at it again! I hope your sarcastic, otherwise your some peice of work, jeeebus
I believe he is being sarcastic
Jews call the area Temple Mount, claiming it was site of two Jewish temples in ancient times . Radical groups and extremist settler groups want to demolish the Mosque and build a “3rd” temple. Some believe it will herald the second coming of Christ. The government sides with the extremist groups where a sizable portion of Jews are happy to leave the Mosque as is.
Zionist aggression at Al Aqsa will likely be the trigger for the next conflict. All sides now know that any future conflict can escalate into a regional war that may have existential consequences for the apartheid state. TEP.
Well, if it’s to allow Jewish tourists to visit the site then I don’t see what the fuss is.