On the 47th anniversary of setting al-Aqsa Mosque on fire Q-Press media center for Jerusalem and al-Aqsa affairs highlights the main dangers and crimes the Israeli occupation has imposed on the Mosque since 1967.
Q-Press report stated that 80000 Israeli settlers have broken into the Mosque since 2009. In addition the Israeli government has carried out 50 excavations under and around the Mosque and surrounded it with around 102 synagogues like Hurva Synagogue.
Al-Aqsa on Fire
The Israeli arson attack on al-Aqsa on Aug 21 1969 discloses the Israeli intentions to destroy the Mosque and build the so-called Jewish Temple. The Israeli endeavors have not stopped for 47 years through the continuous break-ins excavations and Judaization attempts.
According to Qpres around 80355 Israelis have desecrated al-Aqsa Mosque so far over the past eight years of whom 66174 were settlers and 10747 police officers and soldiers. Between October 2000 and May 2003 there were no break-ins like the ones seen today.
Excavations and massacres
The Israeli government has conducted approximately 50 excavations (28 to the west of al-Aqsa 17 to the south and 5 to the north). Among these excavations there are around 12 main tunnels stretching along 3000 meters in total. The western tunnel under the western wall of the Mosque is 450 meters long while the Silwan tunnel is 700 meters.
The Israeli occupation has committed four main massacres in al-Aqsa Mosque:
· In 1982 Harry Goodman an Israeli soldier broke into al-Aqsa Mosque and headed to the Dome of the Rock and opened fire randomly at the Muslim worshipers killing two and injuring more than 60 others.
· In 1990 the Israeli forces killed 22 Muslim worshiper in the Mosque and injured 20 others.
· In 1996 Palestinian protests erupted over the opening of a new tunnel by the Israeli government under the Buraq Wall. 63 Palestinians were killed and 1600 were injured.
· In 2000 the then Likud leader and Prime Minister war criminal Ariel Sharon desecrated the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of 3000 Israeli soldiers and police officers. This sparked the Palestinian Second Intifada and on the next day Israeli forces killed 5 Palestinians and injured 200 others.
On June 6 1967 Israeli forces took control over the Buraq Wall and three days later the Moroccan Quarter was bulldozed by Israeli authorities to create space for what is now called the “Western Wall plaza” for Jewish prayers.
