SOME 51 JEWISH EXTREMIST SETTLERS STORM AL-AQSA COURTYARDS
Gaza City, 5 Shawwal 1434/12 August 2013 (MINA) – Over 51 Jewish extremist setllers, protected by the Israeli police, stormed on Sunday morning Al-Aqsa mosque.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided at dawn the house of Omar Shalabi, secretary general of Fatah in Jerusalem, and arrested his 13-year-old son.
Local sources reported that the forces arrested the boy in a provocative way for unknown reasons, according to Palestinian Alray Media Agency report monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)..
The interior and environment committee of the Knesset intends to table a proposal calling for allowing the Jews to desecrate the Aqsa Mosque to perform their rituals, especially during their religious days and festivals.
The website of the Knesset said that the interior committee would discuss the opening of the Aqsa Mosque before the Jews during the holy month of Ramadan and the coming Jewish holidays.
The committee is expected to study a request filed by Jewish groups calling for opening all gates and entrances of the Aqsa Mosque before the Jews
The issue of preventing the Jews from entering the Aqsa Mosque during the last holy month of Ramadan will also be debated during this session.
Representatives from the ministries of interior, tourism, public security in addition to other Jewish and Zionist groups were invited to participate in this meeting.
Settlement construction shows Israel not after talks
Meanwhile a senior Palestinian official has criticized Israel’s new plans to construct nearly 1,200 settlement units in the occupied lands, stating that the measure shows Tel Aviv is not serious about the so-called peace talks.
The tenders for over 1,000 homes in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) are proof that Israel is “not serious in the negotiations,” Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh said in a statement on Sunday.
Shtayeh charged that Israel “aims through this condensed settlement activity to destroy the basis of the solution called for by the international community, which aims to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.”
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, also stated that the international community must stand with the peace, “shoulder to shoulder with us and hold Israel accountable for its continuing settlement activities.” “Continuing settlement activity means dictations not negotiations,” he said.
Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel said on Saturday that 1,187 apartments had been given final approval.
He went on to say that 793 apartments will be built in East al-Quds while 394 others are to be constructed in several neighborhoods of the occupied West Bank, including Maaleh Adumim, Efrat and Ariel.
The announcement came only three days before Palestinian and Israeli officials are to restart the so-called peace talks.
Israeli settlements are considered illegal by the UN and most countries because the territories were captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967, and are hence seen as being subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip and thus are demanding Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories.
Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.
Israel to construct nearly 1,200 new illegal settler units
Israel has announced plans to construct nearly 1,200 new illegal settlement units on the occupied Palestinian territories, only three days before Palestinian and Israeli officials are to restart the so-called peace talks.
Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel said on Saturday that 1,187 apartments had been given final approval.
He went on to say that 793 apartments will be built in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) while 394 others are to be constructed in several neighborhoods of the occupied West Bank, including Maaleh Adumim, Efrat and Ariel.
The Israeli housing minister further noted that the Tel Aviv regime will continue its settlement expansion activities.
“We will continue to market housing…. This is the right thing at the present time, for Zionism and for the economy,” Ariel stated.
The measure is poised to effectively torpedo the attempts to kick-start the long-stalled negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and deepen a climate of distrust between the two sides.
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas had long insisted that he would not resume talks without an Israeli settlement freeze. However, he gave in under unrelenting US pressure at last.
Israeli settlements are considered illegal by the UN and most countries because the territories were captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967, and are hence seen as being subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds, and the Gaza Strip and thus are demanding Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories.
Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.(T/P02/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
