clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Israel extends detention of Palestinians due to ‘presence in Al-Aqsa’

June 2, 2017 at 11:48 am

Israeli riot police stand guard as Palestinian Muslims enter the Al-Aqsa compound on 30 May 2014 [Saeed Qaq/Apaimages]

Israel’s occupation forces have extended the detention of 12 Palestinian Jerusalemites who are charged with having a “permanent presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque”. The young men were arrested several days ago in the occupied city.

According to the head of the Jerusalem-based Committee to Support Prisoners, Former Prisoners and their Families, Amjad Abu Asab, the Israelis have also charged the men with being affiliated with the Shabab Al-Aqsa Youth Organisation, which Israel claims is part of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

Abu Asab said that the 12 youths are still under investigation in the Maskobiyeh Detention Centre in occupied Jerusalem. The Israeli authorities have sentenced another group of young men to prison on the same charges. In an interview with Quds News, Abu Asab said that the 12 youngsters are known locally for spending their time in prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Read: Marking ‘Jerusalem Day’, settlers storm Al-Aqsa

He accused the Israelis of trying to reduce the Palestinian presence in the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa and empty it of worshippers, especially during the holy month of Ramadan. This, added Abu Asab, is to facilitate the daily desecration of the site by illegal Jewish settlers.