OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque witnessed on Tuesday one of the worst Jewish incursions in its history, as this incursion was the largest in terms of the number of settlers in a single day, reaching around 3,000. The incursion was meant to commemorate the destruction of the Temple.
The Israeli occupation police facilitated the increase in the number of Jewish settlers at Al-Aqsa by increasing the size of each batch of them to 200 and allowing the entry of three simultaneous batches, which means that the number of settlers at one moment exceeded 600, which is more than the number of guards and employees of the Islamic Endowments (Awqaf) present in Al-Aqsa, especially with the tightening of restrictions on worshippers, the siege of the Mosque, policies of expulsion, and the persecution of the steadfast defenders.
Al-Quds International Institution stated in a statement that the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, deliberately stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque for the sixth time since taking office, and the third time after the launch of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle, to personally oversee the imposition of Talmudic rituals at Al-Aqsa, and publicly reiterate this, while the settlers performed the “epic prostration” ritual on the soil of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, chanting provocative slogans, the Israeli national anthem, and Talmudic prayers, while raising Israeli flags. In terms of spatial division, this incursion witnessed a dangerous development with the violation of the western courtyard of Al-Aqsa, opposite the Dome of the Rock, in addition to its eastern courtyard, which has been isolated and treated as an undeclared synagogue since 2019.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque: The core of the conflict
The Institution emphasized that the renewal of the aggression against Al-Aqsa and its escalation in the eleventh month of the Al-Aqsa Flood battle reaffirms the status of Al-Aqsa as the core of the conflict. Since the launch of its attempt to liquidate the Palestinian issue in 2017, Israel has viewed the Al-Aqsa Mosque as the gateway to such goal, and it is striving to establish a religious presence there by transforming it from a mosque into a synagogue.
It also pointed out that the war witnessed, in its eleven months, an increase in the religious Zionism and the Zionist right-wing’s attempt to control the Al-Aqsa Mosque and obscure its identity, which is consistent with Israel’s overall strategy in this war (on Gaza) to try to turn it into a comprehensive war of extermination, and to cling to the attempt to end the conflict in its favor and push for its imposition during the war, which the occupation has failed to do so far. The aggression against Al-Aqsa has become an indicator of life and survival for Israel’s right-wing.
Calls for everyone’s involvement in the battle
The Institution stressed that this renewed model presented by the resistance in Gaza imposes on all the forces of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the 1948 occupied land, as well as the Arab and Islamic nation, to engage in this battle and join it and expand its front, so that Al-Aqsa becomes the title for the revival of forces, the sharpening of determination, and the mobilization of forces, so as to defeat the Zionist illusion of final victory.
It also emphasized that defending Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem and waging the battle to liberate them is the highest right that unites our nation in its various sects, currents, and forces, and brings it together with all the supporters of truth and justice in this world.
The Al-Quds Institution warned that the current situation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque has become violated and subject to successive changes. Instead of remaining a purely Islamic holy site under Islamic administration as it was before June 4, 1967, in accordance with international law, the Islamic Endowments (Awqaf) now only manages the “Islamic presence” there, while, in fact, it is under the control of the Israeli occupation police and the dictates of the extremist minister Ben Gvir, and his Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is complementing his role and giving the Arab official regime anesthetic injections after every aggression, claiming that the occupation entity still “respects the status quo”.
The statement concluded by saying, “In the face of this encroachment on the fate of Al-Aqsa, and the successive change in the status quo there, Jordan is required to take a serious official position as the state responsible for Al-Aqsa affairs under international law. The continuation of peace agreements, normalization, gas imports, vegetable exports, and the land bridge, are completely contradictory to Jordan’s historical responsibility for Al-Aqsa and the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and constitute a green light for the occupation to continue its liquidation policies there. This responsibility is shared by all Arab and Islamic countries, who are required to take an immediate position to end all agreements and forms of normalization, and support the resistance in all its forms, as the only effective choice in the face of the occupation.”
Epic prostration and expanding the area of Talmudic rituals
The researcher specialized in Jerusalem affairs, Ziad Abhees, warned about scenes of dozens of settlers who performed the epic prostration ritual on the soil of Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the occupation police. He confirmed that for the first time, the collective prostration is taking place in front of the Dome of the Rock from the western side, expanding the area of imposing Talmudic rituals.
Abhees said, “Today, as the Zionists renew their attempts to move forward and control the Al-Aqsa Mosque despite the Al-Aqsa Flood, we have to gather greater power within Palestine and beyond to make it a symbol of the existential struggle with the Zionist entity.”
He concluded by saying that all components of the nation should stand together to defend the third holiest site in Islam and to affirm that the Al-Aqsa Mosque will never turn into a synagogue or a temple and that Al-Quds will never be Yerushalayim. “Now is the time for the liberation of the land and its return to its indigenous people,” he said.
