ISRAELI FORCES DETAIN PALESTINIAN WOMAN AT AQSA

Al Quds, 29 Rabi’ul Awwal 1436/20 January 2015 (MINA) – The Israeli police detained a Palestinian woman on Monday while leaving the al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Witnesses said that the Israeli police detained Hiba al-Husseini while leaving the al-Aqsa compound from the Cotton Gate and took her to a police station for interrogation, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Israeli soldiers also assaulted a group of women while in the compound as Jewish Israelis toured the area.

Witnesses said that an Israeli policeman pushed a woman while cursing at her.

The Al-Aqsa compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque and is the third holiest site in Islam.

It is also venerated as Judaism’s most holy place as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

According to mainstream Jewish religious leaders, Jews are forbidden from entering for fear they would profane the Holy of Holies, or the inner sanctum of the Second Temple. However, some religious Zionist groups advocate the destruction of the mosques currently on the site in order to construct a third temple.

Al-Aqsa is located in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian territories that have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967. (T/P006/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)