IOA to Build New Big Synagogue in Old City of Jerusalem

Al-Quds, 3 Muharram 1438/4 October 2016 (MINA) – The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has finished all preparations, in cooperation with unnamed Jewish groups, to build a big synagogue called the Jewel of Israel in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem.

It will be located about 200 meters away from the western side of the Aqsa Mosque, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) reported.

According to the Palestinian news website Qpress, the new synagogue project will cost around 48 million shekels, mostly from the Israeli government and the rest from wealthy Jews.

The synagogue will be composed of six floors, two underground, and will be built on the ruins of an Islamic historical site dating back to the Ottoman and Mamluk eras.

The project is part of a large-scale Israeli plan aimed at planting religious Jewish structures in the heart of Old Jerusalem to change the Islamic and Arab identity of the holy city.

It will be the second massive Jewish edifice in the Old City after the Hurva synagogue, which was built in 2010.(T/P008/R07)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)