PLO:

Israel Bears Full Responsibility for Storming Al Aqsa, Fueling Religious Tensions in Jerusalem

The storming of Al Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem by Israeli occupation forces is an act of recklessness and aggression, designed to provoke religious and political tensions in the City and across Palestine', Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), stated.

News ID: 446575

Date: 14 August 2019 - 10:25

RNA - “We condemn this aggression, which is reprehensible and dangerous and hold the Israeli political establishment fully responsible for its grave consequences,” she said in a statement, WAFA reported.

“To score points in election season, Israeli politicians are competing on who can exhibit higher levels of aggression and hostility against the Palestinian people during this important religious holiday, including the endorsement of Israeli settler plans to storm Al Aqsa Compound. These Israeli attacks and political endorsements of extremism are stoking the flames of religious fervor and threaten to plunge the region in sectarian war. They reflect a dangerous and irresponsible agenda that must be confronted with blanket and unequivocal international condemnation,” added the PLO official.

She called on the international community “to confront this belligerence and to intervene to stop any further deterioration in Jerusalem”.

The Palestinian presidency also condemned the Israeli occupation forces storming Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacking worshipers on the first day of Eid Al-Adha and warned that the Israeli escalation could turn the political conflict into religious strife.

"We hold the Israeli government responsible for police breaking into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacking worshipers, which is a major provocation to the feelings of Muslims and serves to fuel the situation and increase tension that would drag the region to the square of violence," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman for the President Mahmoud Abbas, stressed.

Israeli police attacked tens of thousands of Palestinian Muslims who were holding the morning prayers for the first day of Eid Al-Adha, one of the main Muslim holidays, at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, causing several dozen injuries, mainly among elderly people who had to be transferred to hospitals for treatment.

The police attack came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and extremist right wing Israeli officials pressed for allowing fanatic Jews into the Muslim holy compound on the important Muslim holiday. In order to allow the fanatic Jews in, Israeli police attacked the Muslim worshippers and forced them out of the holy compound while preventing them from carrying out their religious duty.

Abu Rudeineh stated in a statement the need to stop the Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that it is a red line that cannot be tolerated in the face of repeated attacks on this holy place by the occupation forces and its settlers.

He said that President Abbas salutes our people in Jerusalem for their steadfastness in the face of the occupation schemes that seek to change the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque as an only Muslim holy place, calling for urgent international and Arab intervention in order to curb the aggression and Israeli arrogance and force Israel as an occupying power to stop its actions and practices in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.

"We warn the Israeli government against continuing to allow settlers to carry out these crimes and we warn against turning the political conflict into a religious one that could burn everything in its way,” he added.

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