Thousands Worshipers Perform Friday Prayers at Al-Aqsa

Al-Quds, MINA – Despite the myriad of Israeli checkpoints surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem and the segregation barrier separating the occupied capital and the rest of the occupied West Bank, thousands of worshipers performed prayers on the second Friday of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Thousands of worshipers came from the Arab towns in the 1948-occupied land, while many others from the occupied West Bank made their way through openings dug in the segregation barrier for non-permit holders, Wafa reported.

Hundreds of Israeli police officers were deployed on the entrances to the Old City and Haram Al-Sharif, where they checked the identity cards of worshipers and denied many of them access into the holy site.

At the Lions Gate, on the northwestern entrance to the holy site, thousands of gathered worshipers were seen forcing their way into a checkpoint heavily manned by Israeli police officers and entering the mosque yards.

This came only a day after nightly clashes erupted across the Old City of Jerusalem and at adjacent streets, which erupted in the aftermath of calls by hardcore Jewish settler organization Lehava that urged members to attack the Old City and “burn all Arabs”, in what the terror organization described as an act of resentment and a means of restoring “nationalist honor”.

Over 100 Palestinians were injured and 50 others were detained in the nightly violent clashes with Israeli police and settlers amid simmering tensions surrounding the holy month of Ramadan in the occupied city of East Jerusalem.

Israeli policemen fired stun grenades, tear gas and water cannons against Palestinians who attempted to confront the settler march, and some of whom threw stones and bottles, injuring over 100 and detaining some 50 others.

The Palestinian Red Crescent sources said that at least 105 Palestinians were injured in the nightly clashes, including 22 who sustained moderate injuries and required hospital treatment. The others were treated at the scene.

The clashes spread to other parts of the occupied city of Jerusalem, including the Sheikh Jarrah, Musrara, the French Hill colonial settlement, al-Tur and Wadi al-Joz, and lasted until the early morning hours of Friday. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)