OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Europeans for Jerusalem Foundation has warned of the dangers targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque amidst the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement issued on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which falls on August 21st, the Foundation said that the anniversary comes amid more dangerous events affecting the Mosque, seeking to impose a new fait accompli on it and divide it temporally and spatially, amidst international inaction.
It pointed out that a few days before the anniversary, the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the Minister of Negev and Galilee Affairs, Itzik Wasserlauf, participated in storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has now witnessed Jewish extremists performing prayers and epic prostrations in the Mosque, with the approval of the Israeli police, who had until recently prevented this.
The statement warned that the anniversary of the burning of the first qibla of Muslims comes this year with the intensification of the Judaization policies pursued by the most extremist right-wing Israeli government in the history of the occupation state, which aims to turn the plans drawn up by the far-right to Judaize and divide Al-Aqsa into a fait accompli.
It stressed that the fire that broke out in the Mosque 55 years ago has extended to this day in different forms and images, some of which are more dangerous and threatening to the first qibla of Muslims.
Europeans for Jerusalem said that it appears that the Israeli authorities believe that the incapacity of the international community to stop the genocide they have been committing for more than 10 months in the Gaza Strip makes them bolder in attempting to change the status quo in the Mosque, ignoring the risks that may arise from this.
It warned of the seriousness of the Israeli policies targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which are manifested in the expansion of the policy of storming the Mosque and allowing Jewish extremists to perform public prayers, and imposing practical measures to divide the Mosque temporally and spatially, while tightening restrictions on the access of Muslims and preventing renovation work in the Mosque, at a time when the risks are increasing due to the escalating Israeli excavations.
According to the statement, the occupying state works through several paths to Judaize the Al-Aqsa Mosque and impose new realities within it, noting the documentation of more than 125 attacks on the Mosque over seven months and the participation of 28,653 settlers in storming the holy Islamic site since the beginning of the year until the end of July.
The European Foundation believed that the anniversary of the arson of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an important occasion that everyone should pause at; to sense the scale of the Israeli risks and threats that target the Mosque, and the attempt to impose a new fait accompli that goes beyond the established historical and legal rights in it.
The crime of burning the Al-Aqsa Mosque occurred on August 21, 1969, when an Australian-born extremist named Denis Michael Rohan, a Protestant of Zionist beliefs, broke into the Mosque and cooperated with Zionist parties to carry out his terrorist act. The fire broke out in the eastern wing of the prayer hall located on the southern side of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the fires consumed 1,500 square meters, which represents more than a third of the area of the qibla mosque, which is 4,400 square meters. The fire also damaged the facades of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, its roof, carpets, and rare decorations, as well as all its contents, causing significant damage to the building, which required years to restore and return its decorations as they were.
The fire also consumed the historical pulpit of the Mosque, which Saladin had brought from the city of Aleppo when the Muslims recaptured Jerusalem in 1187 AD. This beautiful pulpit had a special status, as it was ordered to be prepared by Sultan Nour Al-Din Zangi for the day of the liberation of Al-Aqsa.
This comes as part of a series of measures and policies implemented by Israel since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, with the aim of erasing the Islamic civilizational identity of the city of Jerusalem, imposing Judaization on it, and entrenching the foreign colonial presence. Over the past decades, this policy has not stopped, but has escalated recently, to the point where the occupation forces are repeatedly desecrating and storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque and assaulting the worshippers, and allowing Jewish settlers to storm it, accompanied by provocations and the performance of Talmudic rituals in an attempt to impose Judaization.
Europeans for Jerusalem affirmed that the anniversary of the arson of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an occasion to remind of the scale of violations committed by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Mosque and the entire city of Jerusalem, whose original inhabitants face the worst forms of racial discrimination in the modern era.
It stated that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is a global cultural heritage that requires global efforts to protect it and free it from the ruthless occupation that seeks to falsify history and distort its Islamic identity.
It explained that in the face of the escalating dangers targeting the Mosque, which remain a recurring trigger, especially with the presence of this extremist government whose ministers openly call for imposing a new fait accompli in the Mosque in violation of the historical and legal right recognized by the United Nations, the international community must act urgently to stop the Israeli violations against the Mosque, the worshippers in it, and all the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city of Jerusalem.
Europeans for Jerusalem expressed its confidence that the persecution and assault the Mosque and the people of Jerusalem are subjected to only increases their faith in the justice of their cause and strengthens the attachment of all Muslims to their first qibla, and their rejection of any attempts to Judaize it.
It called on the European Union and the entire international community to take effective measures to stop the Israeli policies targeting the Mosque and the entire occupied city of Jerusalem, where the worst forms of the apartheid system are applied.
Europeans for Jerusalem addressed greetings to the people of Jerusalem, who are steadfast and insist on defending their city despite the Israeli practices, and urged Muslims and all free people in the world to support them in their legitimate struggle for liberation from the grip and authority of the occupation, and to exercise their right to freedom of worship and to protect their holy sites.
