Some 500 extremist Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli police, have broken into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque since the beginning of holy month Ramadan, Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem reported Monday.
Feras Al-Debs, the representative of Information Office in the department, said in a press release that the settlers toured in the holy courtyards of Al-Aqsa mosque amid the presence of Muslim devotees who tried to bar the settlers from breaching the sanctuary of the Islamic holy site.
The head of Islamic Movement in 48 Palestine, Kamal Al-Khateeb, according to Al Ray, called on Muslims to mobilize in the Al-Aqsa courtyards to defend the site from settler attacks.
The occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have witnessed a national uprising against Israeli occupation forces, in recent months, because of the continued raids on the mosque under the protection of Israeli occupation police.
Archive IMEMC Report — 2015: A Dangerous Escalation at Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and also venerated as Judaism’s most holy place, alleged to be the original site of Solomon’s Temple. Disputes surrounding visitation to the site have historically flared tensions in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In 2003, the Israeli government unilaterally decided — despite the objections of the Islamic Endowments Department — to allow non-Muslim visitors into the complex.
Since then, under increasingly right-wing Israeli governments, extremist Jewish settlers have been allowed into the site in ever greater numbers — usually protected by Israeli security forces — while Palestinian access to the site has become increasingly restricted.
Christians outside of the Levant remain divided on the issue, as biblical end times prophecy states: “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” ~Revelation 21:22
However, settler attacks on Christian holy sites have been progressive in recent years, and are now on the increase, as well.
Also of interest: Rabbi Lau: 3rd Temple Can be Built Without Destroying Al Aqsa
