Date: 24 / 02 / 2009  Time:  12:26
Gaza – Ma’an –

The Hamas movement staged a rally in Gaza on Tuesday in solidarity with Palestinian Christians and residents of Jerusalem.

Hamas said rally, which took place in front of the Al-Awda Mosque in Jabaliya, reaffirmed the holiness of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, and in protest of repressive Israeli policies in Jerusalem. The demonstration was attended by Hamas officials from the northern Gaza branch of the movement.

Hamas spokesman Tal’at Al-Majdalawi said, “The movement will always defend the religions and God’s prophets, and will always stand by the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.”

The demonstration comes days after news that Israeli authorities ordered 1,500 Palestinians to leave their homes in the Bustan neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Haniya gov't deplores Israeli intent to demolish 88 Palestinian homes in J'lem

[ 24/02/2009 - 12:15 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The Palestinian government headed by premier Ismail Haniya on Monday strongly denounced the Israeli decision to demolish 88 Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem and displace more than 1,500 Palestinians from Al-Bustan neighborhood near the Aqsa Mosque in the context of the Zionist schemes to judaize the holy city.

"The government condemns this crime and considers it part of the ethnic cleansing exercised against our people in occupied Jerusalem," spokesman for the government Taher Al-Nunu told a news conference.

The spokesman held the IOA fully responsible for the consequences of this crime, warning that the Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings are a red line and any harm done to it would lead to the outbreak of an all-out war against Israel inside and outside Palestine.

He stressed the need for high-level Arab and Muslim moves to protect the Aqsa Mosque and save the Palestinian citizens from the Zionist "transfer" policy, calling for providing all forms of support for the Palestinians in the holy city.

Nunu urged the new American administration to show a serious desire to achieve change in the US foreign policy through immediately intervening to stop the growing settlement activities in the West Bank and the Zionist attempts to judaize Jerusalem and change its demographic and geographical nature.

The spokesman expressed his government's condemnation of insulting Prophet Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in the Israeli media as a blasphemous act against both Christianity and Islam, saying this act unveiled the truth of the Zionists who have contempt for everything contrary to their distorted beliefs.

In the same context, Hamas political leader Dr. Ismail Radwan asserted Monday that the Palestinian people won't stay arms folded in the face of the frenzied Israeli schemes to judaize the occupied city of Jerusalem, and the expedited steps to transfer its indigenous Palestinian citizens out of it.

In an interview with the PIC, Dr. Radwan stressed that the Israeli plans to demolish 88 Palestinian homes in the city's Silwan suburb was tantamount to declaring an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people, underlining that the Palestinian people will resist those schemes with all force they have.

Dr. Radwan called for a popular uprising all over occupied Palestine against these Zionist malicious schemes targeting the holy city and Mosque.

The Hamas leader also warned the IOA that any harm it might inflict on the Aqsa Mosque and the occupied city of Jerusalem would have adverse consequences not only in occupied Palestine but on the entire region as well. He also invited the international community and free people of the world to say their word on the Israeli violations and clear undermining of international laws and conventions. In this regard, the Hamas Movement's information office in Khan Younis urged the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip to participate in the massive march to be held Tuesday evening in the city in solidarity with Jerusalem and its people.

OIC condemns Zionist schemes in occupied Jerusalem

[ 23/02/2009 - 04:26 PM ]

JEDDAH, (PIC)--

The Organization of Islamic Conference on Monday strongly denounced the Zionist plan aimed at demolishing dozens of homes in occupied Jerusalem, charging that it fell in line with attempts to judaize the holy city.

Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC Secretary General, said in a statement that the Zionist plot aims at changing the demographic status of the city and at tampering with its Arab and Islamic identity.

He said that the scheme poses dangers on the future of Jerusalem and leads to uncalculated consequences other than constituting a flagrant violation of the fourth Geneva Convention that does not allow an occupation power to tamper with the demographic conditions in the land it occupies.

Ihsanoglu urged the OIC and Quds committee member countries to immediately act to end this aggression and to ask the world community to pressure Israel into desisting from implementing such "illegal schemes".

For his part, Nafedh Azzam, one of the Islamic Jihad leaders in the Gaza Strip, on Monday called on the Arab and Islamic countries to protect Jerusalem from Israeli judaization measures.

He described the Israeli decision to tear down 88 homes in Jerusalem as "oppressive" that aims at changing its demographic status in preparation for taking complete control of the city.

Azzam warned that the Palestinian people would not remain silent vis-à-vis such "serious, criminal practices" against Jerusalem and its inhabitants, and added that the measures would carry grave repercussions on the entire region.

The Jihad leader urged the Arab and Islamic countries to extend all possible support to the people of Jerusalem to strengthen their steadfastness in face of the Zionist schemes.