OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC)– Sheikh Raed Salah the prominent Muslim leader and head of the Islamic Movement inside the 1948-occupied Palestinian lands warned on Tuesday that the IOA was planning a new demolition crime against the Aqsa Mosque on Thursday.
According to the Sheikh the Israeli antiquities authority (IAA) had invited Israeli construction companies to offer tenders to demolish parts of the Aqsa’s Buraq plaza after the IOA completed the destruction of the historical Magharba gate at the western wall of the Mosque over the past couple of months.
Salah who was speaking in the sit-in tent in the Wadi Al-Jooz suburb in occupied Jerusalem further unveiled that the IAA put a number of conditions on bidders including having previous experience in excavations at sensitive and holy sites the bidder must own small bulldozers to be able to enter the area and to start the demolition job only during night time among other conditions.
However the Muslim leader asserted that the entire process was deliberately concealed in order not to stir further Arab and Muslim protests but he affirmed the bidding is over and the winning bidder will be announced on Thursday to start the job.
In this regard Salah threw the burden on the Arab and Muslim Ummah to shoulder their religious and national duties towards the Aqsa Mosque tagging anyone able to save the Aqsa but defaulted in doing so as a “traitor”.
“All what we (Muslims in Palestine) could do is to continuously mobilize Palestinian masses in busses to stage sit-ins inside the Aqsa Mosque and to block the IOA plans with all possible means as we will not remain idle towards those malicious acts; yet our response will become clearer when the actual job starts” Salah underscored.
He also questioned “Does any Muslim accept to remain passive towards throwing soil and blocks of the Aqsa Mosque the first Muslim Qibla and the third holiest Muslim shrine at the dumpsite?”
He also underlined that the plan authorizes the IAA to expand the destruction works as it deems necessary asserting that Muslims should be “ashamed of themselves” for watching the Aqsa Mosque being gradually destroyed before their eyes without taking any step to salvage it. He finally charged that the “disappointing and weak” Arab and Muslim stands towards the Israeli crimes have encouraged the Hebrew state to pursue its demolition schemes.
