[Tuesday Morning, February 25, 2014] Palestinian medical sources have reported that at least twenty Palestinians have been wounded, after undercover soldiers of the Israeli army invaded the yards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem.The sources said that the soldiers fired concussion grenades and firebombs at dozens of Palestinians who tried to stop Israelis from invading the mosque area.
The attack came a few hours before a special Knesset session to discuss “Israel’s full control of the al-Aqsa Mosque”, instead of the Jordanian supervision. Likud Member of Knesset, Moshe Feiglin, presented the bill.
Dozens of soldiers and undercover units of the army invaded the yards of the mosque, preventing hundreds of Palestinians from entering it.
The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf (Endowment) and Heritage said that hundreds of Palestinians were staying in the mosque area since Monday evening, after repeated calls by Israeli groups to invade it.
Israeli sources said Feiglin held talks with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and members of the coalition government, in an effort to arrive at an agreement on a statement regarding the “future of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The sources said that Netanyahu seems to be uninterested in changing the status of the mosque.
In related news, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Knesset talks were supposed to be held last week, but were postponed, and that the talks were supposed to include a vote on the wording of the proposal.
Haaretz added that Feiglin held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his office, Monday, in an attempt to reach a “wording that could be acceptable to all coalition partners”.
It said that Feiglin is seeking a formal Israeli declaration which sets Israel’s control, and exclusive sovereignty, on the holy site.
According to Haaretz, Netanyahu wants a better, softer, wording to avoid tension and clashes in Jerusalem and the Arab world.
Zehava Gal-On, head of the Meretz Israeli party, said that Feiglin is seeking more tension, and that the clashes are a direct outcome of Feiglin’s “provocative initiative”.
“Feiglin’s timing of his initiative, especially while the government is holding final-status talks with the Palestinians, including the future of Jerusalem and the holy sites, is meant to foil any attempt to reach a peace deal”, she said.
She added that this issue cannot be resolved without resolving other core issues on the table between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
