Scores of Israeli settlers guarded by police stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem this morning, under the pretext of celebrating Hanukkah holiday.
The Islamic Waqf, the Jordan-run authority in charge of the holy site, said scores of Israeli settlers broke into the holy site in groups on the first day of the Jewish holiday, and that more groups of settlers are expected to break into the holy site during the day.
It said the Israeli occupation authorities imposed strict restrictions on the presence of Muslims in the holy site coinciding with the incursions by Israeli settlers.
Jewish fanatic groups have been calling on their followers to storm en mase the Al-Aqsa Mosque with the start of the Jewish Hanukah holiday.
In return, the Islamic-Christian Committee in Support of Jerusalem and its Sanctuaries has called on Palestinian Muslims everywhere, especially in the occupied city of Jerusalem and in the 1948 territories, to go to Al-Aqsa Mosque today and hold a vigil there to thwart Jewish plans for wide-scale storming of the Mosque.
It warned in a press statement of calls by Jewish groups, led by the fascist lawmaker and future cabinet minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, for the mass storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque with the start of the week-long Jewish Hanukah holiday, which begins on Sunday and continues until the beginning of next week.
It said that these groups began last week to prepare for these incursions and promote them through large-scale advertising campaigns in which they explicitly call for the entry and lighting of the menorah inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in violation of the status quo.
The Committee emphasized that the extremist groups are trying to exploit the political climate in Israel and the fascist tendencies of the next Israeli government to devote their programs to changing the decades-long status quo and force new rules that enable them to officially perform open Jewish rituals and advance plans to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jews.
It held the Israeli government responsible for the serious repercussions that would result from these incursions and enabling extremist groups to impose their programs and plans in violating the sanctity of the Mosque and its Islamic identity.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency