17 April 2009

Swarms of Palestinian masses have continued camping near the Aqsa Mosque in a bid to thwart any attempt by fanatic Jewish groups to desecrate it, asserting that they were ready to die for the defense of the Muslim holy shrine.

The Islamic Movement in the 1948-occupied Palestinian lands called on Palestinian masses in those areas and in Jerusalem to head to the Aqsa Mosque after Jewish groups publicly declared they would storm it Thursday.

Sheikh Kamal Al-Khateeb, the deputy-head of the Islamic Movement underlined that the swift response of the Palestinian masses to defend the Aqsa Mosque proves that the Aqsa won't be abandoned by the Palestinian people at any cost.

"We are camping today near the Aqsa Mosque to affirm that the Aqsa won't be left alone, and that it was and will remain part of our faith that we will defend with blood and souls", asserted Khateeb as he addressed the swarms.

He also underscored that one day the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque would be defeated the same as previous occupiers, including Persians, Romans, and crusaders among other occupiers.

"Jerusalem would remain, Allah willing, a Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim city, and the [Israeli] occupation would end as other occupations," stressed Khateeb.

For his part, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, the Mufti of Palestine and Jerusalem, blamed those negotiating the Aqsa Mosque and the city of Jerusalem, stressing that the neither the Aqsa Mosque nor the city of Jerusalem were a topic on the table of negotiations.

He also highlighted that the Palestinian people had paid a high price in blood and sweat to defend them, urging the Palestinian people not to listen to calls trying to compromise the Aqsa and Jerusalem on the table of negotiations.

In the year 2000, former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon, who had been in coma since 2006, desecrated the Aqsa Mosque under heavy guard from the IOF troops, sparking the Aqsa intifada that claimed the lives of nearly 5000 Palestinians.

The Islamic bloc's win in Birzeit a sign of the resistance popularity

Meanwhile, The Hamas Movement stated Thursday that the progress achieved by the Islamic bloc in the student elections at the Birzeit university through winning three more seats in comparison to last year is a strong indication that the Palestinian people support the resistance project.

In a press statement to the PIC, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that this considerable ascension of the Hamas student bloc at the Birzeit university confirms that the Movement is deeply rooted in the Palestinian people's hearts and difficult to break despite all conspiracies.

The Islamic bloc, the student wing of Hamas, had won 22 seats in the Birzeit elections after it had gained 19 seats last year despite police harassment and arrests in the ranks of the Islamic bloc students.