ISRAEL OPENS NEW MUSEUM BENEATH THE AL-AQSA
West Bank, 22 Muharram 1435/27 November 2013 (MINA) – An Israeli television reported that the occupation authorities have opened a new museum beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Islamic-Christian Committee to Support Jerusalem and the Holy Sites denounced on Monday the international silence on Israel’s measures to Judaise the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.
The committee urged the world to speak out and to support Muslims’ right to perform their religious prayers in the holy mosque, stressing at the same time that the silence of the international community encourages Israel to violate the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and to assault Muslim worshippers.
The committee pointed out that the museum is only one part of a larger Israeli scheme to continue the Judaisation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the surrounding area, depriving it of its Islamic identity in order to replace it with the alleged Jewish Temple.
The committee’s Secretary-General Dr Hanna Issa warned that the Israeli authorities have almost completed their mission to Judaise the Al-Aqsa Mosque, noting that: “The Israeli occupation authorities aim to deprive the mosque of its Arab and Muslim identity to convert it to a Jewish synagogue by opening Jewish museums and digging tunnels beneath the holy mosque to eventually replace it with the alleged Temple.
The Israeli authorities also facilitate and protect Jewish extremists and settlers who desecrate the mosque’s sanctity on a daily basis.”
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have protested against ongoing incursions by Israeli settlers and police at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Many noted the irony that Palestinian Authority officials continue to hold “peace negotiations” with the Israelis despite such assaults on the sanctity of the Noble Sanctuary.
A number of Palestinian parliamentarians and Hamas leaders took part in the demonstrations; speakers denounced Israel’s desecration of the mosque and rejected Jewish claims to have religious rights therein.
The protesters pledged to protect the mosque, the third holiest in Islam. The residents of Jerusalem were called upon to remain steadfast in the face of such Israeli provocations.
Parliamentarian Mosheer Al-Masri blamed PA officials in Ramallah for their complicity with the Israeli occupation authorities in allowing Jewish extremists to enter the mosque, as well as the Israeli government’s ongoing Judaisation of the Holy City. He warned of an “explosion” among Muslims worldwide if this is allowed to go unchecked.(T/P08/P04)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
