Author: webdesk

Scores of worshipers staying for worship inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem were injured on Friday morning in a fresh Israeli raid on the holy site, witnesses have said.

Today’s attack is the latest in a series of almost daily attacks since April 15 in which the Israeli Police have used brutal force against Muslim worshipers in an attempt to empty the holy site to make way for Israeli radicals to celebrate Passover there.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 31 worshipers were wounded in the attack while many others sustained suffocated from teargas inhalation. It said two of the injuries were critical, while a total of 11 cases were moved to hospital.

At least one wounded worshiper was arrested by the attacking Israeli forces.

Muslim men and women worshippers were forced to go inside the buildings of the compound and to stay there until the end of the Israeli attack a few hours later.

Unlike the previous six days, no Israeli Jewish settlers were allowed into the holy site for Passover celebrations in the aftermath of the raid, seemingly due to the big number of Muslim worshipers who had arrived in the mosque since last night in preparation for the weekly Friday prayer today, as Fridays during the holy month of Ramadan usually draw hundreds of thousands of worshipers from the West Bank and Arab towns inside Israel.

Over the past week, raids by Israeli police into the holy compound were followed by groups of Jewish settlers gradually entering the holy site in the morning hours under heavy police protection to perform rituals and celebrations marking Passover.

Countries around the world have voiced their concern over Israel’s attempts to change the status quo at the holy site by allowing fanatic Israeli Jewish settlers to enter and pray inside the mosque, which is the third holiest site for Muslims around the world after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

President Mahmoud Abbas called last night on the United States administration to immediately intervene and urgently assume its responsibilities in the face of the Israeli measures in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in occupied Jerusalem.

The President’s call was made during a meeting with the Acting US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Yael Lambert, and Hadi Amr, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs. The meeting was held at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah.

During the meeting, the President stressed the need for an immediate cessation of Israeli attacks and for full respect for the legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, holding the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the deterioration of the situation.

The President pointed out that “in the face of the lack of a political horizon and Israel’s failure to stop unilateral actions and abide by the signed agreements, the Palestinian leadership will soon have to implement the decisions of the PLO Central Council.”

President Abbas also pointed to the importance of creating a political horizon that would lead to an end of the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, calling for the reopening of the US Consulate in Jerusalem, as the current US administration has pledged.

The meeting was attended by Member of the PLO Executive Committee Hussein Al-Sheikh, the head of the General Intelligence Service, Major General Majid Faraj, the official spokesman for President Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, and the diplomatic advisor to the President, Majdi Al-Khalidi.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Lutfi Ibrahim Labadi, 20, a Palestinian from the town of Al-Yamun in the West Bank province of Jenin, succumbed last night to wounds he had sustained in an Israeli military raid on his hometown a few days ago, medical sources have said.

Labadi had been critically injured by Israeli bullets during the attack last week, and had been in hospital until he died of his wounds last night.

At least six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces in a crackdown on the northern West Bank province during the first two weeks of this month.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

The State of Palestine warned today against Israel’s continued aggression against Christian and Muslim holy sites and worshippers in occupied Jerusalem.

“The State of Palestine rejects, in the strongest terms, Israel’s illegitimate decision to impose additional punitive restrictions on the entry of Christian pilgrims and worshippers to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher during the sacred service of Orthodox Easter,” read a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.

The statement added, “The State of Palestine holds Israel, the occupying Power, fully responsible for its aggression and extreme provocations, which will have far-reaching consequences for regional and international peace and security.”

“To be clear, Israel, the occupying Power, is not committed, as it falsely claims, to either bring about calm in Jerusalem or to guarantee the freedom of religion and worship for all. It continues to violate its obligations by failing to bring to an end its illegal occupation and the religious and racial discrimination inherent in the law and practice of its apartheid regime.”

The statement continued, “Over the past weeks, the world has borne witness to Israel’s militarization of Christian and Muslim religious ceremonies, the imposition of discriminatory and punitive measures, and the brutal violence inflicted against Palestinian worshippers, all while protecting and escorting Jewish in their provocative raids.”

The State of Palestine said Israel “is violating the Status Quo, upending centuries of Christian heritage and Palestinian traditions. The occupying Power is willfully provoking Christian and Muslim worshippers and threatening a religious war.”

In this connection, the State of Palestine lauded the decision of the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem to reject Israeli manipulations of the Status Quo “and calls on the international community to urgently provide protection for Christian pilgrims and Palestinian worshippers.”

“The State of Palestine also calls on the international community to urgently act, collectively and individually, to implement the relevant United Nations resolutions and uphold the legal and historic character and special status of Jerusalem.”

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Dozens of worshipers suffered suffocation today as Israeli occupation forces fired teargas canisters inside the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem shortly following Friday prayer.

Israeli drones were seen firing teargas canisters at the worshipers, causing many cases of suffocation from gas inhalation, notably among children and women. Most of those who suffocated were treated at the scene by local medics.

The Jordan-run Islamic Waqf authority overseeing the compound said about 150,000 faithful, most of them Palestinians from Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Arab towns inside Israel, prayed at al-Aqsa Mosque today, the third holiest site in Islam.

Earlier in the morning, scores of worshipers were injured in an Israeli raid on the holy site, marking the latest in a series of almost daily attacks since April 15 in which the Israeli Police have used brutal force against Muslim worshipers in an attempt to empty the holy site to make way for Israeli radicals to celebrate Passover there.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers performed today the third Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, despite Israel’s restrictions on the entry of worshipers to the holy site.

About 150,000 faithful, most of them Palestinians from Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Arab towns inside Israel, prayed at al-Aqsa Mosque today, the third holiest site in Islam, said the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf authority overseeing the compound.

WAFA correspondent said Israeli police and security forces shut down multiple roads and alleys leading to the old city of Jerusalem, forcing worshipers to use significantly longer routes to reach the holy site.

Israeli occupation forces also deployed large numbers of troops at the gates leading to the holy site, inspecting worshipers’ identify cards and conducting bodily search to some of them.

Israeli police further tightened their security measures around the holy site, but prayers passed peacefully. Thousands of Palestinians prayed at Israeli checkpoints leading to Jerusalem from the West Bank after being blocked from entering the holy city.

Earlier today, scores of worshipers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque were injured in an Israeli raid on the holy site. The attack was the latest in a series of almost daily attacks since April 15 in which the Israeli Police have used brutal force against Muslim worshipers in an attempt to empty the holy site to make way for Israeli radicals to celebrate Passover there.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 31 worshipers were wounded in the attack while many others sustained suffocated from teargas inhalation. It said two of the injuries were critical, while 11 cases were moved to hospital.

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 and latter annexed it in a move never recognized by the global community.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency

At least four Palestinians were injured by Israeli occupation forces today during the weekly protest in the village of Kafr Qaddum, in the West Bank province of Qalqilia, against Israeli settlement construction.

Morad Shtewi, a local anti-occupation activist, told WAFA that Israeli soldiers attacked the protesters with rubber-coated rounds and tear gas canisters, injuring four of them by rubber-coated rounds and causing many cases of suffocation from gas inhalation.

All of the injured protesters were treated at the scene of the clashes.

Shtewi added that Israeli soldiers indiscriminately fired rubber—coated rounds and stun grenades at residents’ homes, causing many cases of suffocation from teargas inhalation.

For many years, villagers from Kafr Qaddum and neighboring villages have been protesting every Friday against illegal Israeli settlement construction.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across the occupied Palestinian Territories in violation of international law.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency