TEL AVIV – The Palestinian Authority’s Fatah movement has called on the public to rally at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque to prevent the “occupation government” from allowing “settlers” into the holy site during Ramadan.
The Temple Mount is considered the holiest site in Judaism.
According to Fatah, the movement loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel violated prior accords made with the Jordanian religious authorities, who are in charge of the site, attempting to “allow Jewish extremists into the compound while arresting those who try to block them.”
In addition, Israel “has launched attacks against the Muslim worshipers and security guards at the blessed mosque.”
In actuality, while Palestinian media outlets have broadcast misinformation about Israeli police storming the Al Aqsa Mosque, Muslim youth have been using the mosque as a staging base to attack Jews. The clear goal seems to be to draw Israeli security forces into the sensitive mosque compound and thus fuel the cycle of rumors of Israeli incursions.
On Tuesday, Raafat Alayan, Fatah’s spokesperson in Jerusalem, specifically called for Palestinians to turn up at mosques to “fend off” Israelis. He said, “The entire Palestinian people, wherever they are, must turn up at mosques and fend off the invasion attempts of the settlers. It’s the religious and national duty of Muslims from all countries to protect the (Al Aqsa) Mosque.”
“The way to protect the endangered mosque is to visit and pray in it,” he said, congratulating the Palestinian people “who fended off the invasion attempts of the settlers who were assisted by the occupation army and police.”
He said that 13 Palestinians, including Abir Ziad, a member of Jerusalem’s Fatah leadership, were injured in recent clashes, adding that the protesters detained by the Israeli forces were Muslim citizens of different countries.
“Fatah defends Jerusalem and Al Aqsa mosque in every way it can,” he said. “Resisting the occupation is our religious and national duty, and the measures of the occupation – detention, expulsion, and oppression – will not discourage us from doing so.”
Meanwhile, a source in the Waqf, the Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount, told Breitbart Jerusalem that the Jordanian government plans to ask Israel to reconsider its decision to allow Israeli lawmakers into the Temple Mount compound after the end of Ramadan.
The source said that “allowing members of Knesset into the compound will increase tensions and possibly ignite violence.”
“It’s clear that some people wish to depart from the status quo that allows for Jews and tourists into the mosques,” he said. “I don’t think the Jordanian authorities will comply, but there will be those who continue to insist on demanding that, and sometimes their protests will result in violence.”
Muslims are allowed to ascend the Temple Mount twenty-four hours a day and are not restricted in their ability to worship there.
Under Waqf rules enforced by Israel, non-Muslims are only allowed on the site at certain hours on certain days and only on condition that they do not pray or display holy objects.