Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 
Israeli Apartheid Government Allows More Jewish Settlers to Enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, Interrogates the Mufti, Expands Illegal Settlement Construction, Detains 13 Palestinians

May 9, 2013

Illegal Israeli settlers violating the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque	Shaikh Muhammed Hussain, Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine	A Palestinian youngman flying a flag over a sign of the illegal Israeli settlement of Bet el.

Israeli occupation government releases the Mufti

[ 08/05/2013 - 09:36 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

The Israeli occupation government released the Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Shaikh Mohammed Hussain afternoon Wednesday.

Israeli occupation forces had stormed the home of the Mufti in Jabal Al-Mukabir in occupied Jerusalem at dawn Wednesday and detained him.

The Mufti was questioned at his home and in Maskobeh detention center about confrontations inside the Aqsa mosque on Tuesday before his release a few hours later.

Bakirat: Israeli government officially starts dividing Al-Aqsa Mosque

[ 08/05/2013 - 09:28 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, RAMALLAH, NAZARETH, (PIC)--

Najeh Bakirat, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, said the Israeli government has officially adopted the project to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque, and started discussing legislations to increase number of Jews who visit Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Hebrew radio revealed that the Knesset began on Wednesday morning to discuss the adoption of a law that allows increasing the number of Jewish settlers who visit Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Bakirat pointed, in remarks to Quds Press agency, to the seriousness of this development.

"The Arab and Islamic silence, at both the official and public level, regarding the events taking place in the Holy City represents a serious waiver," he added.

Bakirat pointed out that the Israeli attacks did not affect Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem only, but also included arrests of religious icons, referring to the recent arrest of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein.

For his part; the Jerusalemite MP Mohammed Abu Teir said that the occupation does not need legal justifications to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque and control it, because it always does whatever it wants to impose a fait accompli.

The MP, who was deported to Ramallah, told Quds Press on Wednesday that "the repeated visits to Al-Aqsa indicate that the occupation seeks to impose a fait accompli on the ground, so that it will be able to impose its full control over Al-Aqsa Mosque."

He called on the Jerusalemites and the Palestinians in the 1948-occupied territories to confront the occupation plans, through intensifying their presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards in order to thwart any attempt to control it.

Hebrew radio said on Wednesday morning "the Knesset Interior Committee is discussing the issue of visits by Jews to the campus of Al-Aqsa Mosque (which the Israeli occupation government refers to as the Temple Mount), and quoted Chairperson of the Committee Likud MK Miri Regev as saying "the Committee is examining the possibility of increasing the number of visits in a way that will not change the status quo," as she said.

Meanwhile, Jerusalemite bodies have monitored an unprecedented increase in the number of raids carried out by Jewish settlers and Knesset members into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and an escalation in the Israeli calls for the demolition of the mosque and the construction of the alleged temple on its ruins.

 

OIC condemns fanatic settlers’ storming of the Aqsa

[ 08/05/2013 - 09:33 PM ]

JEDDAH, (PIC)--

Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu strongly condemned on Wednesday the Jewish settlers’ storming of the Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

İhsanoğlu charged Israel with pursuing a systematic policy of aggression against holy places in occupied Jerusalem.

He held the Israeli government fully responsible for consequences of such systematic and dangerous violations of relevant international resolutions and doctrines.

The Secretary General urged the world community, especially the UN Security Council and UNESCO, to act to halt those repeated violations.

Israeli police detain 13 Jerusalemites

[ 09/05/2013 - 11:09 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

Israeli policemen arested 13 Palestinians for interrogation in Ras Al-Amud neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday.

An Israeli police spokesman said that four Palestinians were detained, including two minors, for spraying water on Jewish demonstrators who were hoisting the Israeli flag.

He said that a fifth Palestinian was arrested for trying to abort the arrest of a group of Palestinians who were hoisting Palestinian flags in the same neighborhood at the same time. He added that the young man, along with the two minors, were taken for interrogation.

Meanwhile, Israeli policemen assaulted and quelled Palestinian demonstrators in Ras Al-Amud and detained ten of them for disturbing the public security.

 

Israel sanctions plan to build 296 housing units for settlers east of Ramallah

[ 09/05/2013 - 11:06 AM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)--

The civil administration of the Israeli army approved on Wednesday a plan to build dozens of housing units in place of a military base and annex them to the nearby settlement of Beit El in the east of Ramallah city.

According to the Hebrew news website Walla, the new outpost will include 12 multi-story buildings composed of 296 apartments.

Walla noted that the building of this outpost would start immediately based on direct orders from Israeli war minister Moshe Ya'alon and any Palestinian objection to the plan would be considered after initiating the construction.

Walla affirmed that Ya'alon ordered the removal of an Israeli border police base in the area and its annexation to Beit El settlement as a prelude to giving the place to Jewish settlers and initiating the construction process.

It added that chief of the central military command in the West Bank Nitzan Alon had signed documents transferring the ownership of this site to the settlers, noting that about 80 square meters of the area on which the outpost would be built belongs to a Palestinian citizen.