A report by the Palestinian Ministry of Islamic Endowments on Sunday revealed that the Israeli occupation forces carried out more than 80 attacks on Islamic holy sites last January.
The Ministry said in a statement that the Israeli government is feverishly attempting to impose a new fact on occupied Jerusalem through the temporal and spatial division of al-Aqsa Mosque as well as the daily incursions into the Mosque conducted by Israeli settlers including Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews.
It pointed out that the Israeli occupation authorities banned the Adhan (call for prayer) in the Ibrahimi Mosque 47 times during January 2017 and continued interfering in its affairs other than the incursions conducted into historic sites in Salfit city and Suleiman’s Pools in Bethlehem city and the Talmudic prayers performed at Qabr Yusuf in Nablus city as a part of the Israeli Judaization policy.
The statement pointed to the Israeli efforts made to Judaize al-Aqsa Mosque and put pressure on the inhabitants of occupied Jerusalem including imposing exorbitant taxes interfering in drawing up the educational curricula searching Palestinian citizens and restricting their entry into al-Aqsa Mosque and seizing buildings and real estates near the Mosque especially in Silwan town and converting them to settlement outposts.
The ministry pointed out that Israel pursues systematic policies in occupied Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque by deploying its forces in the city conducting tunnel excavations organizing provocative marches and carrying out repeated attacks on Bab al-Rahma and Mamilla cemeteries in the holy city.
Jewish settlers escorted by Israeli forces break into al-Aqsa Mosque on a daily basis except Friday while tight restrictions are imposed on the entry of Muslim worshipers.
