Sheikh Bakirat: ‘Summons, arrests aim to keep Al-Aqsa empty’

Najeh Bakirat, head of the Administration Department of Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs, said that his summons by the occupation authorities for interrogation next Sunday comes after decades of harassment and prosecution.

Bakirat explained that the occupation aims to empty Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque of Jerusalem’s figures and leaders and does not want any Palestinian Islamic presence in Jerusalem, or any figure who exposes the occupation’s Judaisation policies in the Holy City.

He noted that he was summoned on Thursday to the Moscobiyeh Detention Centre for what is known as “the interrogation in room number 4”, and that he was handed a decision to renew the travel ban against his son, Dawoud.

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Bakirat added that the occupation forces surrounded his house in the town of Sur Baher in Jerusalem, where they raided his home to search for him. A verbal confrontation took place between the family and the occupation forces.

He stated that the occupation forces handed him another summons to be interviewed by the intelligence agency at the Al-Qashla investigation centre in the Old City next Sunday.

Bakirat confirmed that this summons is not the first and will not be the last, stressing his rejection of all the unjust restrictions on Jerusalemites.