SHEIKH SABRI WARNS OF TURNING A HISTORICAL SCHOOL INTO A SYNAGOGUE

Occupied Jerusalem, 26 Jumadil Akhir 2015/15 April 2015 (MINA) – Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, Head of the Supreme Islamic Council, warned of the decision made by Jewish extremist groups to turn the historical Tankaziya school in Jerusalem into a Jewish synagogue.

Sheikh Dr. Sabri revealed, in a press statement on Tuesday, that the Tankaziya school is an Islamic Waqf and Mamluk edifice located within al-Aqsa Mosque vicinity. It belongs to Prince Tankaz al-Naseri who died in 1340 and ruled Jerusalem in the Mamluk era.

The Prince established the school in 1328AD as an education place and an orphanage. It consists of two stories including a niche, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Dr. Sabri noted that in the early thirties of last century, the upper floor was an office for the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini. Then, It was taken by the Sharia court as one of its departments before it was used as Al-Aqsa Islamic Secondary School from the fifties of the twentieth century to the year 1969.

In 1969, it was taken over by the Israeli occupation. The students were expelled out of the school and it was used by the Israeli border guards.

Sheikh Sabri himself was the headmaster of the school at that time before it was taken over by Israeli forces.

The Islamic Supreme Council condemned the Israeli aggressive and arbitrary seizure of the school and demanded its return to the Islamic Awqaf management.

Dr. Sabri called on UNESCO, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) and the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) to bear their responsibilities and to exert efforts in order to protect the holy and historical sites in Jerusalem.

He also asked them to urgently move to oblige Israel to return the Tankaziya school to the endowment properties and to stop turning it into a synagogue. (T/P3/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)