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100 Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque every month

August 30, 2017 at 11:08 am

Israeli forces injure Palestinians with tear gas as they gather to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque following the removal of Israeli security measures in Jerusalem on 27 July 2017 [Mahmoud İbrahem/Anadolu Agency]

Muslim places of worship in Jerusalem are subjected to 100 Israeli violations every month, the Palestinian Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs, Youssef Ideiss, said yesterday.

According to Quds Net, the minister said there had been 700 violations against places of worship since the start of the year.

The violations are represented by the daily raids by Jewish settlers, theft of artefacts and continuous excavations under Al-Aqsa’s foundations.

Ideiss said that the Ibrahimi Mosque, the most prominent Islamic site in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, was also subject to repeated Israeli violations. Muslims were prevented from making the call to prayer from the mosque 50 times and it was fully closed for one day this year.

The minister said that the Israeli occupation is planning to surround Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque with settlements and synagogues, the last of which is the one which was opened in Batan Al-Hawa on Thursday.

Read: 2 Israeli MPs storm Al-Aqsa Mosque

He noted that the visit of the Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan is considered an official government approval of the project. He also said that the Israeli government’s permission for the Israeli officials to raid Al-Aqsa Mosque would make the situation unstable once again.

During August, the minister said, the number of Israelis who raided Al-Aqsa Mosque increased, the performance of the Talmudic rituals inside the mosque also increased and a greater number of Al-Aqsa guards were prevented from entering the Muslim holy site.

He revealed that the Israeli occupation opened a religious Jewish school at one of the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque to advise those who plan to desecrate it.

Meanwhile, he said that the Israeli occupation authorities have been preventing school books from entering Palestinian schools in Jerusalem. Israeli sent its own books, he said, to the Palestinian schools for free to replace the Palestinian curriculum.

Read more: Education is a right being denied to Palestinian children, and Israel is the culprit