Twenty settlers attempt to break into al-Aqsa mosque

A group of twenty settlers attempted to break into al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Saturday evening, in an attempt to attack a festival for Fourth Al-Aqsa Child Fund; Palestinian mosque guards managed to bar the settlers from entering it.

Al-Aqsa Institution for Reconstructing Islamic Holy Sites organized the event to support the Child Fund; approximately 50.000 residents, including children, attended the event.   

Leaders of the Islamic Movement in Israel were also present, in addition to representative of the Muslim Waqf department in Jerusalem, and other West Bank public figures. 

Ekrima Sabri, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, said that the large crowd which attended the festival affirms the Palestinian persistence to protect al-Aqsa Mosque, and the holy sites in Jerusalem.

Sabri slammed the Israeli plan to construct a settlement neighborhood near Bab al-Zahera area in the city.

“Such plans are considered a war”, Ekrima said, “A religious war carried out by fundamental settlers against Islam”.