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.

 
Clashes at Al-Aqsa Mosque After Attempt to Defile it by Illegal Jewish Settlers, Shaikh Raed Salah Released on Bail

 

Children, Women, Injured As Israeli Extremists Break Into The Al-Aqsa Mosque

Wednesday September 04, 2013 12:10 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian medical sources in occupied Jerusalem have reported that several children and women were among the injured after extremist Israelis broke into the yards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque since early dawn hours Wednesday [August 4 2013]. Fifty Palestinians have been kidnapped in the Mosque area overnight.

The sources said that a Palestinian child, identified as Ahmad Sa’id Marar, 11, was shot by a rubber-coated metal bullet, while several women in the mosque were injured after being sprayed with pepper spray.

The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that at least 49 Israeli extremists broke into the Al-Aqsa mosque, in small groups, and that dozens of Israeli police officers invaded the yards of the mosque through that Al-Magharba Gate, and chased Muslim worshipers who tried to stop extremists from invading the mosque through that area.

Head of the Islamic Waqf and Endowment Department in Jerusalem, Sheikh Azzam Khatib Tamimi, held Israel responsible for the clashes in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and for not protecting the holy sites from fanatic extremist Israeli groups.

Khatib added that the Waqf department had requested the Israeli police to close the Al-Magharba Gate, in order to prevent the extremists from invading the mosque, but the Police did not even respond.

“The extremists openly and clearly expressed their intentions to invade the mosque today”, Khatib said, “Now, they are implementing their threats”.

In related news, Israeli soldiers prevented the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Holy Lands, head of the Higher Fatwa Committee, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, and various religious and social figures, from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and detained them in Bab Hatta area.

One of the workers of the Al-Aqsa mosque stated that the Israeli army and police kidnapped more than 50 Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, after the police broke into it and dragged the residents out.

It is worth mentioning that hundreds of Israeli soldiers and police officers have been deployed in different areas in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The police also interrogated dozens of residents while inspecting their ID cards.

Various extremist groups in Israel have called for attacking the Al-Aqsa mosque on the eve of the New Jewish Year, today Wednesday. The call pushed hundreds of Palestinian to flock to the mosque in an attempt to stop the extremists.

Fierce clashes at Aqsa Mosque after attempt to defile it by Jewish settlers

[ 04/09/2013 - 10:50 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

Some young Palestinians outside the old building of the Aqsa Mosque this morning

***

Violent clashes broke out on Wednesday morning at the Aqsa Mosque after dozens of extremist Jewish settlers escorted by Israeli occupation government policemen and soldiers desecrated the Aqsa Mosque's courtyard.

The illegal Israeli Jewish settlers were not able to stay long at the Mosque after they were forced quickly to leave it under police protection by dozens of angry young Palestinian Muslim worshipers who were already there to protect it.

According to eyewitnesses, young men and women threw stones and shoes at the settlers and their police guards, as they were chanting "Allahu Akbar."

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army and police have turned east Jerusalem, especially its Old City, to a military base and established barriers and checkpoints throughout the holy city.

This led hundreds of Palestinians to perform their dawn prayers on the streets and roads that are adjacent to the walls of the Old Cty of Jerusalem after the Israeli occupation forces prevented those under the age of 50 from having access to the Old City and the Aqsa Mosque.

The Israeli army and police started last night to impose strict measures on the movement of the Palestinians in preparation for the mass entry of Jews in the morning to the Aqsa Mosque at the pretext of the Hebrew new year.

The intended mass desecration of the Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday morning, which was called for by fanatic Jewish figures and groups, prompted more than 50 Jerusalemite young men and women to spend their night inside the buildings of the Aqsa Mosque to defend them against possible Jewish break-ins.

The Israeli police, for their part, asked the guards of the Mosque compound to get the youths out of the buildings, but the guards refused to comply and confirmed their right to stay inside an Islamic holy site because they are Muslims despite the police threat to use violence to expel them from the Mosque.

One of the Mosque's servants reported the intensive presence of special police forces inside its courtyard and at its gates following the clashes in an attempt to prevent more Palestinians from coming to back up the young people.

As a result of the Israeli procedures against the Aqsa Mosque, there is possibility of more confrontations between the Palestinian natives and the Israeli occupation forces during the coming hours as more Palestinian worshipers keep flocking to the Mosque.

Sheikh Raed Salah released on bail

[ 04/09/2013 - 11:08 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The leader of the Islamic Movement in 1948-occupied territories, Sheikh Raed Salah, was released Wednesday on bail of 50,000 shekels.

The defense lawyer Khaled Zabareqa said that the Israeli court released Sheikh Salah on bail on of 50,000 shekels and on condition to keep a distance of 30 km from Jerusalem for 6 months.

The lawyer confirmed that Sheikh Salah refused to be deported from Jerusalem where he did not sign the pledge.

Lawyer Zabareqa noted that an Israeli police car has transferred Sheikh Salah outside Jerusalem, immediately after his release.

His release came one day after his arrest while on his way to the press conference that was intended to call for massive marches to the Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday to confront the Israeli calls for storming the holy site in the few coming days on the occasion of the Hebrew New Year.

The Islamic Bloc has strongly condemned the arrest of Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in Palestinian territories occupied in 1948, while on his way to participate in the press conference scheduled for Tuesday to call for massive marches to the Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday.

The Bloc considered Sheikh Salah's arrest a direct incitement against al-Aqsa mosque and occupied Jerusalem in light of the Israeli escalated Judaization schemes.

The arrest of Palestinian icons and Islamic leaders aim at silencing the free voices that defend al-Aqsa Mosque and work for revealing the Israeli plans, the bloc's statement said.

The bloc called on Islamic and national leaders to stand united against this Israeli campaign against Palestinian national icons.

Different Palestinian national and Islamic bodies have denounced Sheikh Salah's arrest and called for his release.

For his part, Sheikh Dr. Ikrima Sa'id Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council, stated that Sheikh Salah's detention will not undermine the Palestinian adherence to al-Aqsa mosque, pointing out to the Israeli ongoing systematic schemes against the mosque that were escalated in light of the Jewish religious holidays.

Sheikh Sabri stressed the need to intensify the Palestinian presence in al-Aqsa mosque and to protect it from the Israeli escalated break-ins, calling for Wednesday rallies in defense of the Islamic holy site.

Deputy Head of the Islamic Movement inside the Green Line, Sheikh Kamal al-Khatib, stated that Sheikh Raed Salah's arrest by the Israeli police will not succeed in breaking the Palestinian will and the Jerusalemite's steadfastness to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Sheikh al-Khatib pointed out to the Israeli ongoing excavations under al-Aqsa Foundation, most recently the two new tunnels that exposed the mosque's substructures.

For its part, the Palestinian Trade Unions Assembly said in a statement on Tuesday that the arrest of Sheikh Salah came in light the Israeli continued crimes against Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque especially following Sheikh Raed's prominent role in defense of the Islamic holy sites.