Israeli Troops Attack Al-Aqsa Worshipers

Link

Posted by realistic bird under Politics, Videos Tags: al aqsa, Al Quds, clashes, Israeli crimes, Israeli polcies, Jerusalem, news, palestine, Palestinians, Politics, Videos

News by Al Jazeera in Arabic (part from inside the masjid)

Israeli Troops Attack Al-Aqsa Worshipers

by Khalid Amayreh, IOL, October 25, 2009

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – Tension flared up at Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday, October 25, when hundreds of Israeli troops stormed the Islamic holy site, beating worshipers and firing tear-gas shells, rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades.

“They are beating people and desecrating the holy place in utter disregard for civility and human decency,” Adnan al-Husseini, the highest-ranking Muslim Wakf official, told IslamOnline.net.

“They are clamping a siege to the Aqsa Mosque and preventing Muslims from accessing the place.”

According to eyewitnesses, at least 10 Palestinians were injured, some badly, while others suffered tear gas inhalation.

As many as 20 Palestinians were arrested.

Sheikh Muhammed Hussein, a prominent scholar and religious leader, described the situation at Al-Aqsa as “very dangerous,” warning it could get out of control.

“The Israeli soldiers are beating everyone, including women and children,” he said.

Earlier, Muslim leaders urged Muslims to flock to Al-qsa Mosque to repulse renewed attempts by government-backed Jewish zealots to arrogate a foothold at the exclusively Islamic shrine.

The calls were relayed through loudspeakers at the Aqsa compound, prompting the Israeli occupation authorities to cut off electricity supply to mosques in the area.

The Muslim leadership in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) called on Muslims to be on constant alert to foil a plan by Jewish extremists to hold prayers at the Aqsa sanctuary on Sunday.

The zealots say they want to commemorate a visit to the Aqsa Mosque by Maimonides (Musa Ben Maymon), a prominent Jewish rabbi of the Middle Ages, 843 years ago.

Save Al-Aqsa

The Palestinians accused the Israeli occupation forces and their proxy jewish extremists of playing with fire.

“They are trying to prove that they are the masters here, that they have sovereignty over the holy place,” said Hussein.

“But this is an exclusively Islamic holy place. It has always been like this and it will always be like this.”

Al-Aqsa is the Muslims’ first Qiblah [direction Muslims take during prayers] and it is the third holiest shrine after Al Ka`bah in Makkah and Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

Jews claim that their alleged Temple of Solomon exists underneath Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which houses the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and want to destroy the Muslim holy shrine to build their temple.

Al-Husseini, the highest-ranking Muslim Wakf official, appealed to the entire free world to shoulder its legal and moral responsibilities to stop “this brazen aggression on Islam and Islamic holy places.”

“What is happening today at Al-Aqsa Mosque is unprecedented in terms of its disrespect for the sanctity of the place,” he lamented.

“The Israeli state is trying constantly to sow tension and terror and when Muslims protest the Israeli aggression, Israel claims that Muslims were exaggerating and blowing up out of proportion.”

The Palestinian official asserted that the Muslim holy site was facing “a real and overwhelming danger.”

“And if Muslims, governments and peoples, don’t move fast to save it from Israeli designs and plots, tomorrow might be too late.”

Calls for Defending Aqsa Mosque after Israeli Forces Storm the Holy Site

by Hanan Awarekeh, al manar

25/10/2009 Israeli occupation forces broke through the gate of Al Aqsa Mosque Sunday morning which prompted clashes with Arab worshippers. The occupation police threw stun grenades and gas at the worshippers inside.

Israeli occupation Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 12 arrests were made in an around the compound, among them guards working for the Mosque and worshippers, while wounding seven others. He claimed that Arab youth who had thrown stones and a petrol bomb at Israeli police had prompted the clashes. Numerous people sustained bruises and gas inhalation as they were inundated with smoke.

Early Sunday, police had deployed extra occupation troops throughout occupied Jerusalem with restrictions imposed on Palestinian movement and entrance to the Muslim holy site after calls for demonstrations around the holy site that has been the scene of clashes over the past several months. They have surrounded the buildings of the Haram Al Sharif and closed the gates of Al Aqsa Mosque, after Muslim leaders urged Arabs to defend occupied Jerusalem against “Jewish conquest.” Witnesses said that some 100 Palestinians remained inside the compound.

Sunday’s incidents marked the latest violence to shake the holy site, where any perceived change in the status quo has often led to outbreaks of deadly clashes.

There have been repeated rumors among Palestinians that Israeli extremists are planning on harming the holy site. Earlier in the month, Israeli Police clashed sporadically with Muslim protesters in and around the compound.

LOCAL AND ISLAMIC CALLS TO SLAM ISRAELI BREACH OF AL-AQSA MOSQUE

The Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, warned that “the Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for the negative consequences of this dangerous aggression, which violates every Muslim on the face of the earth.”

Kamal Khatib, a spokesman for the Israeli Arab Islamic Movement, which has been at the forefront of recent demonstrations at the compound, blamed police for the clashes. “The police always excuse their attacks by saying that the worshippers threw stones,” he told AFP. “It is clear they just want to justify their crimes.”

He added that police were stopping busses filled with Muslim worshippers in northern occupied territories in a bid to prevent them from reaching occupied Jerusalem.

The office of Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned of “dangerous consequences” and called on Israel to “halt all provocative acts.” “Jerusalem is a red line that cannot be crossed,” Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP. He called on the international community to intervene to “put pressure on the Israeli government.”

Palestinian official with Fatah in charge of the occupied Jerusalem file, Hatem Abdel Qader, warned against allowing Israeli extremists to storm Al Aqsa. He said that the Israeli occupation police must take a lesson from events earlier this month.

“Allowing the entry of extremists will create an explosive situation that Israel will bear responsibility for. Things will escalate again,” said Abdel Qader. “Israel should give up any idea that will change the status quo within Al Aqsa Mosque and know that this place will not allow a red line to be crossed.”

For his part, the Mufti of occupied Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, denounced the Israeli incursion into the Mosque and explained that the Israeli occupation forces deployed in the streets of the Old City are there to prevent access to the Muslim holy site.

In turn, the President of the Supreme Council of Awqaf, Sheikh Abdul Azim Salhab, asked that Israeli police leave the grounds in order to maintain the sanctity of the Mosque and its grounds, denouncing the use of weapons within a sacred place.

Moreover, The Organization of the Islamic Conference condemned the Israeli police action at the Al Aqsa mosque compound, warning that it could have a “dangerous outcome.” “This is a violation of all Muslim sanctuaries,” Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the OIC, the world’s largest Islamic association, said in a statement.

He said “frequent” Israeli breaches of the mosque compound, known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), are “very dangerous and could lead to a negative outcome.”

He called on the global Islamic community to take a stand to defend Islamic holy sites, and warned that any damage to the mosque could have “unpredictable consequences” on international peace and security.

Also, Jordan demanded Israeli police stop entering Al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, warning that “dangerous provocations” by the Zionist entity threaten “peace efforts” in the Middle East. Jordan is “deeply concerned” about developments in Al-Aqsa mosque, Information Minister Nabil Sharif said. “Such dangerous provocations obstruct chances for peace and stability in the region,” Sharif, who is also government spokesman, added in a statement. “They are illegal. They would create more violence and tension.”