Palestinian worshipers sit-in at Aqsa as Jerusalem suffering from suffocating Israeli siege
26 July 2017News Agencies
Palestinian worshipers continue their sit-in at Aqsa gates
Hundreds of Jerusalemites performed on Tuesday noon prayer at the gates of the
al-Aqsa Mosque in protest at the latest Israeli measures despite the removal
of metal detectors.
Jerusalem clerics decided, following a meeting on Tuesday, to continue the
sit-in and not to enter the Mosque until all surveillance cameras installed at
its entrances are removed.
They announced forming a technical committee to assess the situation in order
to take a final decision whether to enter the Mosque.
Dozens of Jerusalemite women continued their sit-in at Bab al-Asbat outside
al-Aqsa Mosque and chanted slogans supporting the holy site and condemning the
Israeli measures imposed on it.
The Jerusalemite activist, Khadija Khwais, said that these measures are aimed
at tightening the Israeli grip over al-Aqsa Mosque and humiliating worshipers.
150 settlers break into Aqsa Mosque
Dozens of Jewish settlers stormed al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards on Tuesday morning
as Jerusalemite worshipers continue their sit-in at the Mosque's gates in
rejection of the latest restrictions imposed on them.
Quds Press reported that nearly 130 settlers and 20 police officers broke into
al-Aqsa this morning.
It pointed out that dozens of Islamic Awqaf employees and Palestinians from
Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the 1948 occupied territories staged a sit-in at
Bab al-Majlis near al-Aqsa Mosque in protest at the Israeli measures imposed
on the Mosque since 14th July.
In the same context, the Israeli police arrested a Palestinian youth at Bab
al-Asbat and tried to arrest three girls from the 1948 occupied territories
while they were protesting at Bab al-Majlis.
In a related development, Jerusalem clerics decided to assign a committee from
the Islamic Awqaf Department to assess the situation and prepare a report on
what is going on inside and outside al-Aqsa Mosque and accordingly a decision
will be taken on the next step.
The Israeli police removed at dawn Tuesday the metal detectors and
surveillance cameras set up outside al-Aqsa Mosque in the wake of the shooting
attack carried out on 14th July. However, new iron barriers were erected in
preparation for installing smart cameras at the Mosque's gates in a few
months, said the Hebrew TV channel Two quoting the police.
Jerusalem... suffering from suffocating siege
Palestinians in the occupied city of Jerusalem are complaining of the
continued siege on the holy city, imposed by the Israeli occupation
authorities for the second week in a row, following a heroic operation in Al-Aqsa
Mosque, carried out by three young Palestinians from Umm al-Fahm.
Tight siege
The residents of the Old City are living under a tight siege, with occupation
forces deployed in all streets of the Old City and all paths that lead to Al-Aqsa
Mosque, with numerous amount of checkpoints and strict surveillance.
Khadija al-Kumbuz, a resident of Jerusalem’s Old City, told the Palestinian
Information Center that the occupation checkpoints are affecting the movement
of citizens; “wherever you go, you are asked to present your personal identity
and you’re constantly subject to inspection by the occupation forces that are
deployed everywhere.”
She described the economic situation of the merchants as terrible, due to the
absence of tourists and the reluctance of the Jerusalemites to go to the Old
City, given the growing fear of being exposed at any moment to the occupation
forces’ attacks, as she put it.
She hoped that the difficult situation in the holy city would not last long,
as she appealed to the people of the occupied West Bank, especially the young
people who climb the wall, to go and defend Al-Aqsa Mosque and stand by the
Jerusalemite people.
Mufid al-Resheq, another resident of the Old City, emphasized that the
situation has changed significantly from what it used to be in the recent
past. According to Mufid the situation has been turning only from bad to
worse, and any incident that takes place in Jerusalem usually leads to
worsening the situation, especially in the Old City.
He added, “If the Israeli government retracted from its decision on the
electronic gates, the situation is likely to be back to what it used to be.
Otherwise, nobody could anticipate the consequences of this crisis, or in
which direction these actions might take the situation in the city, which was
already difficult, even before the crisis."
The most difficult phase
Ahmad Al-Razzim, a merchant from Jerusalem, told the Palestinian Information
Center, "The Old City is going through the most difficult phase since 1967,
and our problem is mainly the continued occupation," pointing out that the
trade movement has been difficult for two years.
He attributed the losses of the Jerusalem merchants to the current situation
in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Israeli scattered barriers around the city, besides
the wall of apartheid, describing the situation in the Old City as bleak.
“My tears were falling when the Old City was closed for three days. I have
never seen the Old City as sad as it was last week," he said, urging the
Palestinians to flock to the Old City markets, “not for shopping but to keep
it alive, and to emphasize the Arab-Islamic right in the city, and to help its
residents to remain steadfast.”
He also called on the merchants to remain present in their shops, despite the
difficult circumstances and the commercial stagnation, in order to thwart the
occupation’s scheme to control the city.
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