Haniyeh: Al-Aqsa will not be spatially divided

Al-Aqsa Mosque will not be divided the way the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron has been, Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh said yesterday.

During a speech at the 9th Jerusalem Scientific Conference in Gaza, Haniyeh said that lives are sacrificed for Al-Aqsa’s sake, and the Israeli occupation has no authority over it. He stressed that Al-Aqsa will not be divided, neither at the temporal nor spatial levels.

“The uprising constituted the end of a phase and the beginning of a new phase, which may end with the liberalisation of Al-Aqsa and the land,” he said.

“The spirit or martyrdom is now prevailing among the youth,” he added.

Haniyeh noted that the uprising broke out to achieve the national goals of freedom, independence and fulfilling the right of return. He said that the intifada has overcome obstacles such as political pressure and Israeli repression.

The Jerusalem Intifada needs to be strengthened through working on four tracks in parallel: deepening the uprising, possessing bargaining chips for protecting it, expanding it to more locations and mobilising more people to participate in it, he explained.

Haniyeh said that the second track can be realized by strengthening national unity, and he called for convening the Provisional Leadership Framework of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, so as to discuss the national Palestinian strategy and ways to support and develop the uprising.

On the third track, he said that it could be pursued by strengthening ties to the Arab and Muslim nation. The fourth track, he added, is about interacting further with the international community and developing a strong international safety net to protect the Intifada.