Category: Holy sites

According to the Islamic Awqaf, the Israeli police allowed 30 settlers to enter al-Aqsa Mosque and perform Talmudic rituals near the Bab al-Rahma area, in the early morning hours. Four…

Shortly after detaining him, the Israeli occupation authorities issued orders preventing the head of the Waqf and Islamic Affairs Department in occupied Jerusalem, Sheikh Abdul-Athim Salhab, from entering the Al-Aqsa…

The recent heavy rain fall has, once again, has revealed the serious damage caused by the ongoing illegal Israeli excavations in occupied Jerusalem, especially the tunnels under the Palestinian homes…

Dozens of illegal Israeli settlers, headed by Member of the Knesset for the extremist Likud party, America-born rabbi Yehuda Glick, on Wednesday morning, broke into the courtyards of the al-Aqsa…

Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday at dawn, twenty-two Palestinians, including the governor of occupied Jerusalem, Adnan Gheith, and a lawyer, identified as Midhat Deebiyya, from their homes Silwan and the…

Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books the last of which…

The Israeli Minister of Agriculture, Uri Ariel, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, under protection of armed Israeli forces, on Tuesday. Head of the public relations office…

Illegal Israeli colonialist settlers painted, on Tuesday, racist graffiti on the outer walls of Bab ar-Rahma Gate, adjacent to the eastern wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem.…

Palestinians enter Bab al-Rahmah for the first time in 16 years, February 22, 2019. Photo credit: Afif Amira for WAFA. POSTED BY: AHMAD JARADAT FEBRUARY 24, 2019 Israeli police detain 60 Palestinians…

In the latest in a series of aggressive and provocative measures against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third-holiest site in the Islamic religion, Israeli police on Sunday abducted two…

Palestinian children are comforted as Israeli forces evict a Palestinian family from their home in Jerusalem’s Old City, February 17, 2019. Photo credit: Afif Amira for WAFA. POSTED BY: AHMAD JARADAT FEBRUARY…

Israeli soldiers attacked, Friday, a nonviolent procession in the center of Hebron city, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, marking the 25th anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque…

Hundreds of Palestinians celebrated, Friday, the reopening of Bab al-Rahma Mosque of Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, which was closed by Israel since the year 2003, and the Palestinians were denied access…

Israeli soldiers detained, Thursday, a young Palestinian man, and an issued order preventing him from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in occupied Jerusalem, for two weeks, the Wadi Hilweh Information…

Palestinians, this evening, removed a metal gate which Israeli police had placed at the entrance to a building in Al-Aqsa Mosque’s Bab al-Rahmeh, on Sunday, and held prayer in the…

Israeli forces raided a mosque in the Isawiyya neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, on Monday, to remove the Palestinian flag and a picture of a Palestinian prisoner. Member of a local…

A Palestinian worshipper is arrested at al-Aqsa Mosque, February 18, 2019. Photo credit: Wadi Hilweh Information Center. POSTED BY: AHMAD JARADAT FEBRUARY 20, 2019 Israeli forces attempted to close Bab al-Rahmah Gate…

Israeli soldiers abducted, on Tuesday afternoon, three Palestinian women while leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque, through the Gate of the Tribes, in occupied East Jerusalem. Media sources said the soldiers abducted…

Israeli forces resealed the Al-Rahma Gate of the Al-Aqsa Mosque with a lock and chain, after a group of Palestinian youth were able to break the lock and open the…

Israeli soldiers abducted, on Monday evening, the Imam of Beit Hanina Mosque, as he was in Bab al-‘Amoud (Damascus Gate) area, in occupied Jerusalem, and took him to an interrogation…

Israeli soldiers assaulted, Monday, many worshipers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem, before abducting four Palestinians, including one woman. Media sources said the soldiers assaulted several Muslim worshipers while…

The Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter, in the Old City of Jerusalem, invested more than 200 million shekels ($55,288,940) into “settlement projects”, in Jerusalem’s Old…

Israeli settlers, on Sunday morning, stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque via the Moroccan Gate, accompanied by occupation police. According to Al Ray sources in Jerusalem, 60 Israeli settlers stormed…

An Israeli court, on Wednesday, sentenced the imam of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque—the third holiest site in Islam—to house confinement. An Israeli patrol kidnapped Imam Walid Seyam from his family home,…

An undercover Israeli force, on Friday evening, raided a mosque in the center of Ramallah city, in the occupied West Bank, and kidnapped one of its employees. WAFA correspondence said…

by Daoud Kuttab- Amman The Palestinian government is turning to its own Christian community and even its evangelicals to campaign against distorted Christian Zionists. Palestinian foreign ministry officials were in…

The head of the Public Relations office of the Islamic Endowment Department, Firas al-Dibs, told Maan News Agency that the Israeli Minister of Agriculture, Uri Ariel, along with many settlers…

Israeli occupation authorities, on Sunday night,  banned seven Palestinian women from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque for two weeks. An Israeli court held a trial for a number of them, on Monday. Israeli…

A group of illegal Israeli colonialist settlers infiltrated, on Monday at dawn, into Deir Dibwan village, east of the central West Bank city or Ramallah, and defaced a mosque and…

Dozens of Israeli illegal settlers, on Wednesday morning, broke into the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound via the Mughrabi {Moroccan} gate under heavy military protection. Jerusalemite sources reported, according to…

American born Israeli ultra-Orthodox Knesset member, Yehuda Glick, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday morning, to perform a wedding ritual inside the compound in violation of standing rules. Locals…

Dozens of Jewish settlers, accompanied by Israeli security, forced their way into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday, according to local sources. WAFA correspondence said that more than 40 extremist…

Salwa Salem Copty with portraits of her father and mother in the church in the destroyed Galilee village of Ma’alul. (Photo by Mati Milstein) Israeli authorities are preventing a 70-year-old…

A large number of Israeli settlers and Israeli police stormed the Dome of the Rock, inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Thursday afternoon. Head…

Israeli forces stormed  into Al Aqsa Mosque, on Monday morning, and began to photograph the mosque’s landmarks and take measurements without mentioning any reasons for it. Later this morning, groups…

The Israeli army and police have issued orders targeting five guards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem, and one Fateh movement official, denying them access to the holy site…

The Orthodox Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Nourhan Manougian, arrived on Friday, at noon, in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, marking the start of Palestine’s Armenian Christians’ celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany. Manougian’s…

Israeli special forces and police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, via the Moroccan Gate, on Thursday morning. Forces also stormed the Marawani and Dome of the Rock mosques, inside the…

A Palestinian woman protests Israeli police activity at al-Aqsa Mosque, January 14, 2019. Photo credit: Wadi Hilweh Information Center. POSTED BY: AHMAD JARADAT JANUARY 18, 2019 Palestinians refuse an attempt by Israeli…

The Dome of the Rock Mosque, situated next to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s 3rd holiest site, is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. Muslim religious officials told WAFA that…

A recap on the events of the past year. Originally published by the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, occupied East Jerusalem. (English subtitles.) https://youtu.be/z51CxcUilwg (photo: BDS National Committee) Human Interest 12/28/18 Remembering…

The Islamic-Christian Committee for Supporting Jerusalem and Holy Sites issued, Saturday, a strong condemnation of a provocative Israeli art exhibit, in Haifa, mocking Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. The…

Hundreds of Palestinian Christians and their supporters gathered Friday in Haifa, in northern Israel, to protest an Israeli exhibit that featured Ronald McDonald taking the place of Jesus on the…

Israeli soldiers abducted, on Monday evening, Firas ad-Dibs, the head of the Media and Public Relations office of the Waqf and Islamic Endowment Department, in occupied Jerusalem. The WAFA Palestinian…

Patriarchs of the various Orthodox churches in Jerusalem led processions to Bethlehem on Sunday, for the Midnight Mass at the Church of Nativity, WAFA reported. In anticipation of Christmas Eve,…

Dozens of extremist settlers and Israeli occupation authorities stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, on Wednesday morning. Israeli police provided full protection to the settlers, who began their entry and…

The Archbishop of Sebastia, from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Atallah Hanna, stated that the Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land weren’t communities in their lands.   During his…

More than a year after announcing their withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Israel and the United States’ decision officially went into effect at the last…

A Hamas delegation visited the Church of the Latin Monastery in Gaza, on Saturday, to express the movement’s congratulations to the Christian Palestinians. Senior Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh reiterated the…

On the annual Christmas Eve celebration in Manger Square, thousands of Palestinians and internationals showed up to spread a spirit of joy and happiness on the religious occasion, which has…

The Kairos Palestine initiative, in its 9th annual statement, has called on the Christian community, in Palestine and in the world, to recognize Israel as an apartheid state, and to…

Christmas Eve celebrations, among Palestinians of the occupied West Bank, began on Monday, by scout marches at the Nativity Church in the Manger Square of Bethlehem City, southern occupied West…

The funeral of Qassem al-Abbassi, the teen killed by Israeli forces, on December 20, 2018, was held Monday night, in the town of Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem. The Palestinian…

Annually, Israeli authorities file travel permits for only a small percentage of Palestinian Christians in the besieged Gaza Strip, dividing families during the holiday season and preventing them from pilgrimage…

Israeli soldiers abducted, on Sunday morning, a young Palestinian man from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, and took him to an interrogation and detention facility. The Palestinian, Nitham…

Palestinians, on Wednesday evening, lit the Christmas tree in Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin village, to the east of Jerusalem, which is threatened with Israeli demolition by Israeli court order. The tree…

Hundreds of illegal Israeli colonialist settlers invaded, on Monday evening, the vicinity of the historic Christian Mar Saba (St. Saba) Monastery, near the al-‘Obeydiyya town, east of Bethlehem, in the…

An elderly Palestinian woman died Saturday in Jerusalem when she suffered a heart attack while praying at the al-Aqsa Mosque. She was identified as Sumayya Mahmoud Nasser, 68, from the…

Dozens of Palestinian youth suffered from tear-gas inhalation, predawn Monday, during violent confrontations which broke out after hundreds of Israeli settlers stormed Joseph’s Tomb, in the northern occupied West Bank…

Israeli settlers stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday morning, accompanied by military reinforcement security from the Israeli occupation army. According to the sources of the Islamic Endowments…

Ultra-Orthodox American-born rabbi and Knesset member Yehuda Glick, along with dozens of Israeli settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, on Monday, for the Jewish holiday of…

Only meters away from where baby Jesus is said to be born, thousands of people made their way to Manger Square and gathered around the gigantic Christmas tree, to welcome…

Preparations for Christmas 2018 are well underway, according to the Press Conference held at the Bethlehem Peace Center, today. With the world’s spotlight beaming down, this December, on the city…

Preparing the Christmas tree in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, outside the Church of Nativity, where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born. (WAFA Images / Ahmad Mizher)  Preparations are underway,…

Israeli soldiers abducted, on Monday afternoon, a Palestinian woman at the Qalandia Terminal, north of occupied East Jerusalem, allegedly for “intending to stab soldiers.” The woman, Afkar Jamal Abdul-Fattah Kamil,…

The Israeli Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Uri Ariel, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, with dozens of Israeli settlers, on Sunday.…

Heavily armed Israeli forces escorted an Israeli Knesset member, Shuli Mualem, as she entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, on Thursday. Head of…

Churches in Jerusalem denounced, on Wednesday, Israeli police conduct with Coptic monks, demanding to hold accountable police officers involved in using force against the monks, according to a press release.…

Dozens of Israeli colonialist settlers invaded, on Wednesday morning, the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, escorted by a large police and military force. Eyewitnesses said the attack was carried out by at…

Israeli soldiers and police officers attacked, on Wednesday morning, several Coptic Christian priests in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in occupied Jerusalem and abducted one of them, the Maan…

Dozens of Jewish settlers, protected by Israeli security forces, forced their way into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday, according to local sources. WAFA correspondence said that dozens of settlers…

Ha’aretz Israeli newspaper, on Thursday, reported that about 30 graves were vandalized two weeks ago, in the cemetery of Beit Jmal monastery, near Jerusalem. The monastery monks discovered the destruction…

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General Saeb Erekat denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday, for using Christianity to distort facts. “Israel’s Prime Minister continues to distorting facts even by…

Dozens of Israeli settlers, headed by extremist American-born rabbi and member of the Knesset for Likud, Yehuda Glick, on Monday morning, broke into the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound…

By consensus, the Program and External Relations Commission (PX), of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), on Wednesday, adopted two resolutions on Palestine,…

Today marks the 28th anniversary of the massacre of the first Al Aqsa Mosque, which was carried out by Israeli occupation forces. On Monday, October 8, 1990, before noon prayers,…

Date: 07 October 2018: Time: 10:30 GMT: Two Fishermen Arrested and One of Them Wounded, Israeli Naval Forces again Reduce Allowed Area for Fishing. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights…

More than 100 Jewish settlers, accompanied by Israeli security forces, forced their way into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday, according to local sources. WAFA correspondence said that more than…

A group of extremist illegal colonialist settlers attacked, on Sunday at night, many Palestinians and stores in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, causing damage and wounding five young…

Tensions increased at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on Thursday, as Israeli forces assaulted a number of Muslim worshipers, while Israeli settlers performed prayers in the compound. Firas al-Dibs, head of the…

Heavily armed Israeli soldiers escorted hundreds of Israeli settlers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, on Tuesday, to celebrate the Jewish  Sukkot holiday, while the Israeli authorities prevented restoration work from…

On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers and police officers, abducted six Palestinians, including three from the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society “PPS” has reported…

After dozens of Israeli colonialist settlers, accompanied by soldiers and police officers, stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, and conducted provocative tours into the holy site,…

Israeli soldiers summoned for interrogation, on Friday evening, twenty Palestinians, including the Secretary of Fateh movement, in occupied Jerusalem. The Palestinian New & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that the…

Heavily armed Israeli forces escorted large groups of Israeli settlers as they stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Wednesday, for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Spokesman of the Islamic…

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israeli settlers entered the Ibrahimi Mosque compound, in the southern occupied district of Hebron, predawn Tuesday, accompanied by dozens of soldiers and police officers, and…

The Israeli army abducted, Tuesday, five Palestinians and injured four others, after dozens of soldiers and officers accompanied nearly 300 colonialist settlers in provocative tours into the courtyards of the…

Dozens of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday, and performed religious Jewish prayers under the protection of heavily armed Israeli forces. Spokesman for the Islamic Endowment department…

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a statement, Thursday, calling in Israel to abide by International Humanitarian Law, and expressing concern about Israel’s plan to demolish al-Khan…

Sign reads (in Czech): Freedom for Palestine By: Jennifer Janineh BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli news media published, on Thursday, a reports about the Czech Republic’s intention to transfer its embassy…

Dozens of Israeli settlers, lead by Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, stormed  the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque ,accompanied by heavy guarded of Israeli occupation police, on Sunday morning. Al Ray…

Groups of Jewish extremist settlers, early Monday, stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied city of Jerusalem, a Palestinian source confirmed, according to Al Ray. The General Director of the…

The Jerusalem Municipality plans to expand the Western Wall prayer space in Jerusalem, Israeli media reported on Monday. Haaretz reported, according to Ma’an, that the plan to expand the prayer…

The Israeli police detained, on Sunday evening, a Palestinian woman and her daughter, and handed them orders preventing them from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem. The police summoned…

Secretary of the Executive Committee for Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Dr. Saeb Erekat, responded to statements by US President Donald Trump and his National Security Advisor, John Bolton, about the…

Baraa’ al-Ghazzawi is arrested at al-Aqsa Mosque, August 12, 2018. Photo credit: Wadi Hilweh Information Center. POSTED BY: AHMAD JARADAT AUGUST 17, 2018 Worshippers report being arrested as they exit the holy…

Local sources in Jerusalem and Israeli sources reported Friday afternoon that a Palestinian was shot dead in occupied Jerusalem, after attempting to stab an Israeli police officer. The Palestinian man,…

Israeli forces continued with systematic crimes, in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), for the week of 09 – 15 August, 2018. Israeli warplanes fired 60 missiles targeting many areas in…

Israeli soldiers attacked and abducted, on Monday evening, a Palestinian woman from the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied Jerusalem. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers assaulted the woman, and abducted…

The Old City on the first day of Ramadan, 2017. Photo credit: Afif Amira for WAFA. POSTED BY: AHMAD JARADAT AND AMALYA DUBROVSKY AUGUST 5, 2018 Three Israeli policies target Palestinian economic…