The Al-Aqsa Mosque building has turned into the scene of a brutal crackdown targeting Palestinians who were performing prayers on Friday in the blessed month of Ramadan, as the Israeli occupation forces stormed the mosque with weapons, while worshipers were kneeling in prayer.
Paramedics from the Red Crescent reported that 158 Palestinians were injured and treated in hospitals, while 400 others were arrested for praying on Friday, and the occupation forces tried to prevent ambulances and paramedics from reaching the wounded.
Thousands of worshipers had gathered to perform the dawn prayer when the Israeli forces entered and fired tear gas and sound bombs at them. Videos posted on the Internet show a woman standing idly by, alone, after an Israeli officer approached her unprovoked and hit her severely on her legs with a metal rod. She screamed in pain, while he continued running.
The worshipers were unarmed, while the Israeli forces were heavily armed, as they fired a rubber bullet at a man in the eye. This attack represents one of the most serious acts of violence in the mosque building in nearly a year.
Photographer Rami al-Khatib, who was present during the incident, said: "[Israeli forces] brutally emptied the building. They attacked the mosque employees, ordinary people, old people and young people." He added, with his hand broken: "There were many wounded. They fired rubber bullets inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and they beat everyone, even the paramedics."
Jordan, Egypt, Russia and the Palestinian Authority issued statements condemning the attack, warning of an explosive situation provoked by "Israel". Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the Israeli embassy in Jordan to express their solidarity with the Palestinians. Omer Bar-Lev, the Israeli Minister of Public Security, claimed that "Israel is committed to granting both Jews and Muslims freedom of worship."
This escalation came at a time when extremist Jewish groups called for raids on the Temple Mount during the Jewish Passover, threatening to slaughter sacrifices in the courtyard, an ancient Jewish ritual. .
Ramadan, the Jewish Passover, and the Eastern Christian Easter coincide in this month, all of which are associated with Jerusalem. In any case, this latest violence, and the conflict that has existed since 1948, is not a religious war. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a struggle over land and human rights. The Jews of "Israel" have property rights and human rights, while the Palestinians have neither. Human rights groups have described Israel as an "apartheid state", and experts have used the terms "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" to describe Israeli policies against the Palestinian people.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 war, and annexed it, in a move that does not receive international recognition.
Israeli right-wing activists plan to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque and replace it with a synagogue, as Oren Hazan, a suspended MK from former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\"s Likud party, pledged to demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque. Hazan was quoted in 2016 as saying, “Telling you how we are going to do it (destroying Al-Aqsa) would not be responsible at this time, but I will say it clearly, and loudly, when I have the opportunity.”
The United Nations issued a statement saying: "The convergence of the holy occasions of Ramadan, Passover and Eastern Passover reminds us of how much we have in common. In this regard, the High Commissioner calls on all parties to show mutual respect and refrain from provocation in any form."
The High Commissioner refers to the United Nations Plan of Action for the Protection of Religious Sites: In Unity and Solidarity for Safe Worship, which stresses "the sanctity of religious sites, and the right of all believers to access holy sites and practice their religious rites and traditions freely, peacefully and safely without fear or intimidation."
In the year 2000, Ariel Sharon stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. His provocation led to the outbreak of the second intifada, which claimed the lives of about 6000 people.
Salman Abu Sitta, founder and president of the Palestine Lands Association, sees the raids on Al-Aqsa as a sign of Israel\"s insistence on occupying all of Palestine. Israeli fanatic extremism fuels the conflict, while Arab indifference offers no defense for Islam\"s third holiest site.
Zionism was a colonial project for European Jews, and it was a secular movement that later used religion to recruit supporters. The plan was to acquire land and bring Jews to colonize it with the aim of conquering Palestine. Israel continues to be a settler regime that wants to secure complete control over all of Palestine and all religious places, Christian and Muslim alike. Israel has been likened to the former apartheid regime in South Africa.
United Nations Resolution 194 states, “Protecting holy places, buildings and religious sites in Palestine, and ensuring free access to them, in accordance with existing rights and historical practices.” The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict with "Israel" prohibits the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque and acts of violence against it.
The Palestinian resistance will continue to escalate, as the youth who have never known the taste of freedom are hungry for the same human rights that characterize the Israeli settlers who occupy Palestine. The political, regional and colonial struggle has a solution, which is to end colonialism and restore the rights of the colonized people. This has been a successful struggle in South Africa.
"The Israeli government must work to rein in Jewish extremists before they drag the entire region into more conflict and violence," said Rev. Noam, Dean of St. George\"s Cathedral in Jerusalem.
He said, "We as Palestinian Christians have always stood with our Muslim brothers and sisters to defend our city and our sanctities. We condemn any act of sabotage against the holy places of all Abrahamic religions, and we appreciate the role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as the guardian of these holy places. We always pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
Naoum added, "The Palestinian-Israeli conflict - especially in Jerusalem - is not related to religion, that is, it is not between Muslims and Jews or Christians and Jews. The issue for us, from a Palestinian Christian perspective, is the same for the rest of the non-Christian Palestinians. The Palestinians have the right to be They have a state on their land, and they aspire to be free in their homeland, regardless of their religion.”
Eastern Orthodox Easter falls on Sunday, April 24. The church bells in Jerusalem will ring with the call to prayer from the Al-Aqsa Mosque building.
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