Sheikh Ekrima Sabri head of the Higher Islamic Council in Occupied Jerusalem has warned of Israeli intents to take over the eastern area of the Aqsa Mosque including the Bab al-Rahma prayer building.
In press remarks Sheikh Sabri said that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) in Jerusalem prevents Palestinian engineers workers and the Islamic Awqaf authority from carrying out renovations at the Aqsa Mosque’s eastern area in an attempt to make it look like a neglected and abandoned place as a prelude to seizing it.
During recent days the Israeli occupation police allowed settlers to intensify their presence at the eastern area of the Mosque and perform rituals there and expelled Muslim worshipers from the area.
The Jerusalemite official pointed out that the IOA had previously tried to take over the Aqsa Mosque’s Bab al-Rahma prayer hall and turn it into a synagogue after failed attempts to impose its control over the Marwani Mosque (one of the Aqsa Mosque compound’s buildings).
He also slammed Israel’s systematic banishment of Jerusalemite figures and citizens from the Aqsa Mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem describing such practice as “an unjust measure” and “a failed arbitrary and venomous policy.”
“No country in the world banishes people from their own places of worship except this occupation [entity] which vindicates that it is an occupying power and not a sovereign authority” Sheikh Sabri underscored.
