“The Zionists don’t let Muslims into al-Quds, but instead let in extremist Jews and build houses for them so that they would not need military forces anymore,” Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told worshippers at weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran, according to Press TV.
He also hit out at a recent decision by Israel to set up 2,000 more settlement units in the West Bank, saying the move was part of a project to push Palestinians out of their homes.
The senior cleric also criticized Egypt’s refusal to reopen the Rafah border crossing as the only “breathing space” for the Palestinian people, saying Cairo has turned its back on Muslims.
Ayatollah Jannati added that Egypt’s establishment of a buffer zone along the border with Gaza also served the interests of the Israeli regime.
Last month, Egyptian authorities sealed the crossing – Gaza’s only land terminal that bypasses Israel – after the October 24 attacks targeting Egyptian military personnel killed some 30 Egyptian soldiers. Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standards of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.
Meanwhile, tensions have been running high in the occupied Palestinian territories since late October when the Israeli regime ordered a full closure of the al-Aqsa Mosque. Tel Aviv later opened the holy site after widespread protests.
Palestinians are extremely angry at Tel Aviv’s raids and restrictions, considering them as part of Israel’s plan to Judaize and desecrate the holy Islamic site.
Over the past decades, Israel has tried to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population.
R111/112/C