ZIONIST FORCES ENTER AL AQSA COMPOUND
Al Quds, 25 Rabiul Akhir 1435/25 February 2014 (MINA) – Israeli occupation police forces Monday night have entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in al-Quds (Jerusalem) to disperse Palestinian protesters.
Israel police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said the forces had used “means of dispersion” against the protesters, Press TV reported as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic Nes Agency (MINA).
The al-Aqsa compound is Islam’s third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
In recent months, Israeli forces and settlers have stepped up their attacks on the mosque. This has led to violent confrontations between the two sides.
Earlier in the month, clashes erupted between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli soldiers at the mosque. The clashes broke out when Israeli forces stormed the holy site in East al-Quds during the Friday prayer.
Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at the people who were praying at the mosque. At least 20 people, including children, were wounded in the violence.
The Israeli police spokesman added that there was “high tension” ahead of discussions in Knesset (the Israeli parliament) later Tuesday of a plan to annex the site.
The Palestinian Authority and the resistance movement of Hamas have warned against Israeli plans to impose “sovereignty” on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In 2000, a provocative visit to the site by former Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon triggered a second Intifada or uprising, during which thousands of Palestinians were killed and injured.
Meanwhile, last Friday, about 300 Palestinians together with Israeli and foreign activists set up the camp in abandoned houses in the village of Ain Hijleh near Jericho in the West Bank to protest against Israel’s refusal to withdraw from the valley in the event of a peace deal.
In US-brokered peace talks, Israel has insisted on maintaining a long-term military presence in the Jordan Valley, where the occupied West Bank borders Jordan.
Palestinian leaders want a full withdrawal to make way for an international security force.
The UN last week slammed Israel’s ongoing policy of house demolitions, saying that more than 1,000 people had been displaced last year in the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem by demolitions on the grounds that homes had been built without Israeli permits, “which are virtually impossible to obtain”.
The Red Cross said on Thursday that it had suspended provision of tents to displaced Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, in a rare protest over Israeli “confiscation” of aid material. (L/P04/E01)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
