15 April 2009

Palestinian religious and national figures on Wednesday urged the Palestinian citizens who are able to reach occupied Jerusalem to travel and march towards the Aqsa Mosque in the early morning hours on Thursday to stand up for the Mosque against the Jewish extremists who declared their intention to barge into the Mosque and offer rituals.

The Palestinian figures, including Sheikh Ikrema Sabri, the preacher of the Aqsa Mosque, and Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib, the deputy head of the Islamic Movement, warned that any attempt by Jews to break into the holy Mosque and desecrate its sanctity will lead to disastrous results, holding the Israeli government fully responsible for any consequences.

In a press statement, the Palestinian leaders highlighted that the Israeli occupation's intent to desecrate the Aqsa Mosque is a violation of divine and international laws which proscribe any acts of disrespect against houses of worship, stressing that the Israeli occupation authority protects the Jewish extremist groups that wreak havoc in the Palestinian lands especially the holy Mosque.

IOA restricts entry of Muslim worshippers into Aqsa Mosque

The Israeli occupation authority has decided to bar entry of Palestinians into the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Thursday while only Arabs with Israeli IDs over 50 would be allowed along with women, the army radio reported.

The broadcast said on Wednesday evening that hundreds of policemen would be deployed in the vicinity of the holy site and the Old City with the aim to protect Jewish fanatic groups which aim at organizing an unprecedented march to the Aqsa Mosque.

The radio said that the measure was taken to ward off possible "disturbance" during that march especially when Palestinians in the 1948 occupied lands had declared intention to send thousands to protect the Aqsa Mosque.

Kamal Al-Khatib, the deputy leader of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied Palestine which organizes the travel of Palestinian Muslims to the Aqsa Mosque, asserted in a press statement that the Muslim worshipers would flock to the Aqsa Mosque to offer usual daily prayers in peace.

He warned, however, that if the Israeli police allowed those fanatic Jews into the holy Islamic site they (police) would shoulder the responsibility of what happens.