Israeli police assaulted, on Sunday, a group of Palestinian women who attempted to enter al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, after being denied entry to the holy site, according to media sources.WAFA correspondence reports that around 40 women were organizing a peaceful protest at as-Selsela Gate leading to the compound in protest of being denied entry to the holy site for almost two weeks, when Israeli police assaulted them and forced them to get back.
This came as Jewish extremists resumed their daily provocative visits to the holy site, amid calls by far-right Jewish groups for mass entry to the site on Sunday to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the death of two hard-line Jewish rabbis.
The Jews attempting entry were faced by an angry Palestinian crowd who chanted religious slogans against them.
For two weeks now, Israeli police has been imposing strict restrictions on the entry of Muslim worshipers, especially women, to the holy site, particularly during the morning hours until 11:00 pm.
Israeli police present at the compound have also been setting up checkpoints at the Mosque’s gates and retaining Palestinians’ identity cards prior to their entry.
Analysts have recently accused Israel of actually starting a temporal division of the Mosque between Muslims and Jews.
On August 31, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had sent out letters to Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Iyad Madani, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Nabil Elaraby, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, and Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, calling for an emergency Islamic summit to examine the latest Israeli escalation at the Mosque.
Updated from: 45 Settlers Invade Al-Aqsa Mosque, Conduct ‘Tour’
