The Hamas Movement has described Israeli security minister Gilad Erdan’s remarks on the Aqsa Mosque as a disregard for the Arab countries and their peoples and contempt for the feelings of the entire Muslim nation and the world’s free people.
Last Tuesday Erdan told the Hebrew radio that the status quo at the Aqsa Mosque which he labeled as the temple mount must be changed so that Jews can prayer there.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem said that Erdan’s remarks were part of Israel’s targeting of Jerusalem which he called “a symbol of the Palestinian cause and one of its constants.”
Qasem affirmed that the Palestinian people would “really change the status quo in Jerusalem by expelling the Israeli occupation extracting the freedom of the holy city and preserving its Arab Palestinian identity.”
“The reality of Jerusalem city and its future will be imposed by our people and their resistance and the boundaries of the city will be drawn by the blood of the martyrs” the spokesman said.
For its part Jordan the custodian of the Aqsa Mosque has condemned Erdan’s remarks in which he called for changing the status quo at Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque compound.
Jordan’s foreign ministry has released a statement saying that the country rejects Erdan’s comments warning that any change to the status quo will have “serious consequences.’
The foreign ministry reiterated that Israel as an occupying power must abide by its obligations under international and humanitarian law and fully respect Jerusalem’s status quo.
The statement also said that Jordan has sent a formal letter of protest to Israel over Erdan’s remarks through diplomatic channels.
