SETTLER RAISES ISRAELI FLAG ON AL-AQSA

Al-Quds,21 Syawwal 1436/6 August 2015 (MINA) – Provoking Muslim sentiments, an Israeli ultraorthodox settler raised an Israeli flag in the centre of the hall entrance of the Dome of the Rock mosque inside Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site in the world.

“Once he reached the Dome of the Rock, he produced an Israeli flag and installed it at a wall of the holy shrine in a move that provoked the Muslim sentiments,” Samer Al Rifaei, a guard in Al Aqsa Mosque and an eyewitness, told Gulf News. On Islam quoted by Miraj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“The boldness this colonist showed in the centre of the holy shrine before the eyes of the Palestinians praying there, and the intervention of the Israeli Special Forces, clearly shows that the entire drama was planned and coordinated to make a statement about Israeli undisputed sovereignty over the entire occupied East Jerusalem area including Al Aqsa Mosque,” Al Rifaei added.

The settler, of French origin, entered the holy site as a tourist before putting the flag.

The move sparked clashes between the settlers and Al Murabiteen volunteers and Palestinian worshippers before Israeli Special Forces intervened, wounding two of the mosque’s guards and arresting another eight guards.

The move is not the first by Israeli settlers who have repeatedly tried to raise the Israeli flag in different parts of the holy shrine.

“Israeli’s around the clock, serious, and unstoppable attempts to put Al Aqsa Mosque under Israeli full control will not come to an end. This is a fact which we should confront for sure,” Al Rifaei said.

“Had the colonists not been provided with protection by the Israeli police and military forces, they would never have dared to raid the holy shrine.”

The Palestinian guard accused the Israeli security forces of supporting the unprecedented escalation in conflicts over Al Aqsa Mosque.

“Calm can easily be restored in the holy shrine by suspending the daily provocative raids of the Israeli colonists who are carefully chosen to be the worst possible and most brutal people, and who were raised in the kibbutz,” he said. (T/P007/RO6)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)