Stop police violations of Muslim holy site warn Arab leaders
Jordan Times, 1), Ma’an news, 2), AFP (Saudi Arabia), 3).
Clearing up the debris inside Al Aqsa mosque after Israeli police entered to reach Palestinian youth who had put up barricades. Photo by Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images
King continues int’l contacts on Jerusalem
By Jordan Times
September 16, 2015
AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday discussed the recent Israeli acts of aggression on Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque with King Mohammed VI of Morocco and French President Francois Hollande.
During telephone calls with the two leaders, King Abdullah highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts to end the assaults, which he said contravene international norms and conventions, according to a Royal Court statement.
The King urged the international community to take a firm stand on the breaches and to work to stop the assaults on Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine for Muslims all over the world.
For his part, Hollande warned that any change in the rules governing Al Aqsa Mosque compound could lead to “serious destabilisation”, Agence France-Presse reported from Paris.
The French premier expressed his “deep concern” over the developments in Jerusalem over the past three days.
Clashes erupted at the site following a raid on the mosque by Israeli forces earlier this week.
Jordan is custodian of holy Muslim and Christian sites in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian city.
Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers on Wednesday discussed the situation in Jerusalem.
The Cabinet highlighted Jordan’s stance, under the leadership of King Abdullah, and stressed also His Majesty’s intensive efforts to protect Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites facing Israeli assaults.
To that end, the council commended His Majesty’s “clear and strong” stance, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh briefed the council on Jordanian diplomatic efforts exerted in cooperation with the international community to put a stop to the Israeli assaults in Jerusalem.
The Cabinet directed the foreign affairs and awqaf ministries to take necessary measures to intensify contact with effective countries, and warn of the dangers of the Israeli measures.
The government renewed rejection of Israeli attempts to change the reality in Jerusalem and the city’s identity, stressing that such actions are prone to fuel radicalism and hatred.
Recently, the Cabinet decided to appoint more than a 100 additional guards to protect Al Haram Al Sharif compound, which houses Al Aqsa Mosque, under directives by His Majesty. The measure was intended also to support Jerusalemites and preserve Islamic and Christian sanctuaries in the holy city.
Palestinians prepare to return tear gas canisters fired by Israeli troops at a protest against an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque in the occupied West Bank town of Al-Ram near Jerusalem on Tuesday. Photo by Mohamad Torokman, Reuters.
Israeli forces storm Aqsa Mosque in third day of clashes
By Ma’an news
September 15/16, 2015
Israeli police use stun grenades to disperse Palestinian demonstrators in a street of the Muslim quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City during scuffles with Israeli riot police on Sept. 15, 2015. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s southern mosque on Tuesday sparking the third straight day of violent clashes at the third holiest site in Islam.
Dozens of Palestinians were injured in the clashes, during which Israeli forces fired stun grenades, tear gas canisters, and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian worshippers.
The Palestinian Red Crescent’s Jerusalem director, Amin Abu Ghazala, told Ma’an that 36 Palestinians had received treatment.
He said that some of the Palestinians had suffered wounds and bruises, while others had suffered excessive tear gas inhalation. At least two were hospitalized.
The director of Al-Aqsa religious school for boys, Nadir al-Afghani, said that a 14-year-old boy was hit in his head by a rubber-coated steel bullet and had received 10 stitches.
Israeli police said five officers were lightly injured.
The Jordanian-run Waqf organisation which administers the site said that police entered deep inside the mosque and caused damage.
Amman said Israel’s actions amount to “aggression” against Arab and Muslim nations, and said it was examining legal and diplomatic means to protect religious sites in the Holy City.
Jordan has custodianship rights over Muslim holy places in Jerusalem under its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
Officials from the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Endowment office in Jerusalem told Ma’an that Israeli forces entered the compound at around 6:30 a.m. and deployed across the compound.
According to Israeli police, Palestinians had barricaded themselves inside the mosque overnight as they had over the two previous days.
Angry Palestinians are prevented from entering the road to Haram al-Sharif. Photo by AFP.
Police proceeded to close the doors of the southern mosque with “chains and steels,” witnesses said, adding that during the ensuing clashes with Palestinian worshipers they entered the holy site.
Witnesses said that heavily-armed Israeli forces “tread on the carpets with their military boots until they reached Saladin’s Minbar (pulpit).”
Witnesses said that stun grenades caused a fire to break out near the mosque’s Bab al-Janaez (funerals door), which fire fighters were able to put out.
An Israeli police spokesperson denied that police had entered the compound, although a spokesman for the Islamic Endowment that controls the compound, Firas al-Dibs, also said “police stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque and went inside” as far as the minbar.
Palestinians denied entry
Barred from entering Haram al-Sharif, September 13, 2015. Photo by Reuters.
At least four Palestinians were reported detained, including a 10-year-old boy identified as Momin al-Tawil.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces closed all gates to the compound except Hatta, al-Majlis and the Chain gates, and denied all Palestinians entry.
Religious schools inside the compound said that students and staff were also initially denied entry, although later in the morning they were allowed to enter.
Dozens of Jewish settlers toured the compound in the morning under heavy Israeli police escort, celebrating the final day of the Jewish new year holiday.
Meanwhile, fierce clashes raged in the Old City’s narrow streets beyond the mosque compound. Israeli police fired stun grenades at Palestinian protesters throwing stones.
“The real owners of Al-Aqsa are kept outside while the thieves are inside,” said a 42-year-old Palestinian who had come from Nazareth to protest, adding that she feared Israel was aiming to allow Jewish worship at the compound.
The clashes followed two days of violence at the mosque compound, with a number of Palestinians injured and detained by Israeli forces on both days.
The compound is Judaism’s most holy place as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.
The latest flare-up came despite calls for restraint from both the United Nations and the United States, and a warning from Jordan, which has custodianship rights over Muslim holy places in Jerusalem under its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, that relations were on the line.
Israeli forces look up at Palestinian stone-throwers during clashes near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, on September 13, 2015. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
Israel ‘playing with fire’
The PLO has also accused Israel of provoking the entire Muslim world in its actions at the mosque compound.
“Israel is playing with fire,” senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said Monday, warning that Israeli authorities were forcibly securing control over the site “in preparation for the total annexation and transformation of Al-Haram Al-Sharif.”
She said: “Israel is not only provoking the Palestinians, but the entire Muslim world.”
Palestinians have expressed fears that Israel is seeking to change rules governing the site, with far-right Jewish groups pushing for more access to the compound and even efforts by fringe organisations to erect a new temple.
Non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound, but Jews are not allowed to pray or display national symbols, under an agreement between Israel and the Islamic Endowment that controls the site.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), is a 144,000-square-meter compound in the Old City of Jerusalem.
It includes two major mosques, the iconic Dome of the Rock and a silver-domed mosque known as the southern mosque.
Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad traveled from the sacred mosque in Mecca to Al-Aqsa during the night journey known as Isra and Miraj.
Israel seized East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, in the Six Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
AFP contributed to this report.
King Salman bin Abdul Aziz fears Jerusalem violence if Israel doesn’t step back and UN doesn’t step in. Photo by AFP
Saudi king seeks ‘urgent’ UN action on Al-Aqsa
By AFP / Tribune
September 17, 2015
RIYADH: Saudi King Salman has appealed to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and members of the Security Council for “urgent measures” after clashes at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, state media reported late on Wednesday.
Salman “expressed strong condemnation of the dangerous Israeli escalation” at the holy site where Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli police for three straight days, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
“He called for serious and speedy international efforts and for the intervention of the Security Council to take all urgent measures to stop these violations,” it said.
Salman added that the “attack on worshippers” violates the sanctity of religions “and contributes to feeding extremism and violence in the world.”
SPA said Salman made the same appeal in phone calls to British Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande.
Hollande warned on Wednesday that any change in the rules governing Al-Aqsa mosque compound could lead to “serious destabilisation.”
The third-holiest site in Islam, the compound is also the holiest site in Judaism which venerates it as the Temple Mount.
Under longstanding regulations, Jews are allowed to visit but cannot pray there to avoid provoking tensions.
Muslim protesters fear Israel will seek to change rules governing the site, with far-right Jewish groups pushing for more access and even efforts by fringe organisations to erect a new temple.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said he is committed to the “status quo”, but Palestinians remain deeply suspicious.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accused Israel on Wednesday of “waging a fierce and relentless war against us in Jerusalem”.