OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC)– Hundreds of Palestinian citizens under age 50 from occupied Jerusalem and the 1948 occupied lands had to perform their dawn prayers on Tuesday on the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem after the Israeli police barred them from entering the Aqsa Mosque.
According to local sources the Israeli police closed today the roads and entrances to the Aqsa Mosque and imposed movement restrictions on the Palestinians.
They set up iron barriers at the entrances to the Aqsa Mosque and prevented all men and women under age 50 from entering the holy shrine the sources reported.
Knowing that the Israeli police would take such measures dozens of Jerusalemite young men had already entered the Mosque one day earlier and stayed inside to protect it against any attempt by extremist Jewish groups to desecrate its premises and buildings.
The occupied city of Jerusalem and its Old City have also seen since yesterday a noticeable presence of Palestinian citizens from the holy city and the 1948 occupied lands.
Different Palestinian religious figures urged recently the Palestinians in the occupied territories to intensify their presence at and around the Aqsa Mosque in order to frustrate Jewish intentions to defile the Mosque on the anniversary of the alleged destruction of the temple.
