Rabbe Al-Azhar: Visiting J’lem now confers legitimacy on the occupation state

Sheikh Al-Azhar: Visiting J’lem now confers legitimacy on the occupation state

[ 11/05/2010 - 05:13 PM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Sheikh Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb reiterated his rejection to visit occupied Jerusalem at the present time and called on all Muslims not to visit it through Israeli visas, saying such an act means recognizing the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation.

These remarks came in response to the declared intention of Egyptian minister of religious affairs Mahmoud Al-Zaqzouq to visit Jerusalem at the invitation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah.

Sources at Al-Azhar university said that a disagreement over this issue happened between Sheikh Tayeb and Zaqzouq, where many Egyptian scholars approved the former’s refusal to visit Jerusalem under occupation.

They added that Sheikh Al-Azhar sent a letter to Zaqzouq illustrating the religious view over the matter and warning him of accepting the invitation, but the latter rebuffed the advice and welcomed the invitation he received from PA official Mahmoud Al-Habbash.

Sheikh Al-Azhar also received a similar invitation from Tayseer Al-Tamimi, the chief justice of the PA, who called on him along with father Shenouda and all Muslims and Christians to visit Jerusalem at the pretext of facing Israel’s plans to Judaize it.

For his part, Saudi preacher Mohsen Al-Awaji strongly denounced the PA chief of justice for inviting all Muslims and Christians to visit Jerusalem, saying this invitation could be useless and for media purposes unless it was intended for urging the nations to break the blockade on Gaza and liberate Jerusalem.

Awaji told Quds Press that the only way to protect Jerusalem from Judaization is to mobilize all Muslims to fight for their holy city, affirming that Jerusalem cannot be defended by visits, slogans, conferences and media statements.

Jewish settlers set Palestinian homes ablaze in J’lem

[ 11/05/2010 - 05:17 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Dozens of savage Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian homes in Al-Qurmi neighborhood in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday which led to the outbreak of clashes between the residents and the assailants.

Eyewitness said that dozens of settlers holding burning torches and escorted by Israel troops stormed all of a sudden the neighborhood and threatened the residents to burn down all houses over their heads if they did not leave the area.

The Palestinian residents tried to defend themselves in an attempt to protect their homes, but some of the settlers set some windows of the homes ablaze before fire trucks arrived one hour late to extinguish the fire.

Al-Qurmi neighborhood connects between the areas of Al-Saraya and Aqabat Al-Khalidiya inside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and many settlement institutions have been trying for decades to lay their hands on the Palestinian real estate.

In another incident, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) burned hundreds of lash pastures in the foothills of Umm Al-Quba in the Jordan valley during a military drill in the area.

Eyewitnesses said that the scorched lands are pastures used by nomadic herders living in the area, affirming that the troops during their drill deliberately burned the grazing lands in order to keep the nomads, who are regularly harassed, out of the area.

For its part, the Palestinian ministry of agriculture reported Tuesday that the Israeli settlers and troops recently bulldozed and burned hundreds of dunums of agricultural lands in the West Bank and its villages.

The ministry said that the latest of these violations was in the village of Jet located between Nablus and Qalqiliya, north of the West Bank, where dozens of settlers torched five dunums of agricultural lands owned by Palestinian citizens.

It added that the IOF troops prevent many West Bank farmers from entering and working their lands, while the settlers wage daily attacks on the Palestinian citizens and farmers living near the settlements.

The ministry also affirmed that the Israeli armored bulldozers destroy on a daily basis the agricultural lands located on the eastern and northern borders of the Gaza Strip.

In separate incidents, different Palestinian local sources reported that the IOF troops kidnapped one citizen from the village of Husan in Bethlehem and two others from the village of Dura in Al-Khalil at dawn Tuesday.

They also said that Israeli settlers threw stones and sprayed paint on Palestinian cars in the village of Tekoa, east of Bethlehem, without any reported injuries.

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