8 oct 2019
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) started on Monday night to put in place a closure of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for the Yom Kippur holiday.
The military closure of the West Bank and Gaza may last until Wednesday-Thursday midnight as part of tight security measures across the occupied Palestinian territories intended to protect Jewish settlers during their religious celebrations.
In a statement, the Israeli army said it would reopen Gaza crossing and end its closure of the West Bank according to its assessment of the security situation.
The military closure of the West Bank and Gaza may last until Wednesday-Thursday midnight as part of tight security measures across the occupied Palestinian territories intended to protect Jewish settlers during their religious celebrations.
In a statement, the Israeli army said it would reopen Gaza crossing and end its closure of the West Bank according to its assessment of the security situation.
7 oct 2019
The Israeli Apartheid Wall, which is being built largely on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, once more underscores the ugliness of military occupation.
As such, it truly epitomises the nature of Israeli apartheid [pdf] and also delineates the siege-driven, isolationist mentality that dominates the ruling-class thinking in Israel.
Even years before the establishment of the state of Israel over the ruins of the Palestinian homeland in May 1948, Zionist communities in Palestine perfected the stratagem of besiegement, isolating themselves behind massive walls while blockading Palestinians, the native inhabitants of the land, in every way possible.
Throughout the Nakba – the catastrophic ethnic cleansing and destruction of Palestine in 1947-48 – Israel used this military theory in abundance.
Neighbourhoods, villages and entire towns would be besieged for days, weeks or months, while being bombarded from all directions before their residents were finally pushed out. None of these ethnically-cleansed Palestinian communities, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, were ever allowed to return to their homes.
In fact, besiegement and isolation remain at the core of the Israeli military strategy to date.
No other place, however endured the brutality of the seemingly never-ending siege like the Gaza Strip. Gaza, that small region of 365 square kilometres, has been under various stages of besiegement and blockade since 1948.
The most hermetic stages of this perpetual siege began some time in 2006 and intensified in the summer of the following year.
Three factors make the latest siege on Gaza particularly horrific: its long duration, the lack of any serious respite for besieged Gazans and, most importantly, the fact that it has been interrupted by massive Israeli wars that killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians. With much of Gaza’s infrastructure destroyed or dilapidated, the Israeli blockade on the Strip has proved to be the most savage and deadliest of all sieges.
On 30 September, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that nearly 70 per cent of an underground barrier east of Gaza is now complete. An estimated 1,400 Israeli and foreign workers are reportedly taking part in building the barrier, which when finished, will extend to reach 60 kilometres in length.
Considering the layers of walls, fences, trenches and no-go military zones, the additional underground wall around Gaza seems frivolous. Is it possible that Israeli leaders truly believe that Gaza is not isolated enough?
In actuality, the latest wall will likely satisfy a psychological, not a practical objective, as it gives the Israeli army and southern settlements a temporary sense of safety, while once more hailing Israeli leaders as the protectors of a defenceless and exposed nation.
Oddly, while scores of young Gazans continue to be killed at the fence separating Gaza from Israel while protesting the Israeli siege on the Strip, it is the Israelis who claim to be targeted, unsafe and victimised.
The newest wall, once it is officially launched with massive fanfare, will still make no difference. It will not upgrade the status of the Gaza siege in any way, nor will it alter the collective fear that has been thoroughly instilled in ordinary Israelis.
For Gazans, wall or no wall, the siege will remain intact.
Israeli wall architects may argue that the latest wall will deter Palestinians from digging tunnels as well as preventing resistance fighters from circumventing the siege via the sea – since part of this underground barrier will also extend into the Mediterranean Sea.
However, there is no proof that walls or fences, over ground or underground barriers have prevented Palestinians from retaliating against Israeli attacks. If the Israeli logic holds any truth, Palestinian resistance would have dissipated or folded decades ago as the Israeli siege mentality was put into practice from the very start of the Israeli war on the Palestinian people.
Israel receives $3.8 billion in US funding, in addition to hundreds of millions in loans and other financial giveaways which are mostly used to fortify Israel’s so-called security. To no avail. Palestinians, impoverished and incarcerated in Bantustan-like structures and open-air prisons, continue with their resistance unhindered.
It is clear that the Israeli security model has failed. In fact, that model never had a chance of success in the first place. The additional Israeli wall around Gaza and the hundreds of other walls and fences that are yet to be built are only meant to feed the collective illusion among Israelis and their leaders that the answer to their problem does not lie in ending the apartheid regime, military occupation and siege, but in adding more layers of “security”.
“At the end of the day as I see it, there will be a fence like this one surrounding Israel in its entirety. We will surround the entire state of Israel with a fence, a barrier,” Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on 9 February 2016 during a visit of the construction site of the barrier around Gaza.
Netanyahu added: “In our neighborhood, we need to protect ourselves from wild beasts.”
While such language and behaviour reflect the deeply-rooted racist mentality at work in Israel, they also underscore the dehumanized way in which Israel sees Palestinians. Since “wild beasts” are not human, they can be killed en masse, besieged and ethnically cleansed in their millions without an iota of regret or remorse.
The problem then is not that of “security” or so-called “terrorism”. Not that of Hamas, or any other group, secular or Islamist. It is not that of Gaza’s March of Return or of children approaching the fences around Gaza. The problem is the entrenched Israeli racist mentality that perceives Palestinian natives as sub-humans and as “wild beasts” to be exterminated or forever besieged.
As such, it truly epitomises the nature of Israeli apartheid [pdf] and also delineates the siege-driven, isolationist mentality that dominates the ruling-class thinking in Israel.
Even years before the establishment of the state of Israel over the ruins of the Palestinian homeland in May 1948, Zionist communities in Palestine perfected the stratagem of besiegement, isolating themselves behind massive walls while blockading Palestinians, the native inhabitants of the land, in every way possible.
Throughout the Nakba – the catastrophic ethnic cleansing and destruction of Palestine in 1947-48 – Israel used this military theory in abundance.
Neighbourhoods, villages and entire towns would be besieged for days, weeks or months, while being bombarded from all directions before their residents were finally pushed out. None of these ethnically-cleansed Palestinian communities, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, were ever allowed to return to their homes.
In fact, besiegement and isolation remain at the core of the Israeli military strategy to date.
No other place, however endured the brutality of the seemingly never-ending siege like the Gaza Strip. Gaza, that small region of 365 square kilometres, has been under various stages of besiegement and blockade since 1948.
The most hermetic stages of this perpetual siege began some time in 2006 and intensified in the summer of the following year.
Three factors make the latest siege on Gaza particularly horrific: its long duration, the lack of any serious respite for besieged Gazans and, most importantly, the fact that it has been interrupted by massive Israeli wars that killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians. With much of Gaza’s infrastructure destroyed or dilapidated, the Israeli blockade on the Strip has proved to be the most savage and deadliest of all sieges.
On 30 September, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that nearly 70 per cent of an underground barrier east of Gaza is now complete. An estimated 1,400 Israeli and foreign workers are reportedly taking part in building the barrier, which when finished, will extend to reach 60 kilometres in length.
Considering the layers of walls, fences, trenches and no-go military zones, the additional underground wall around Gaza seems frivolous. Is it possible that Israeli leaders truly believe that Gaza is not isolated enough?
In actuality, the latest wall will likely satisfy a psychological, not a practical objective, as it gives the Israeli army and southern settlements a temporary sense of safety, while once more hailing Israeli leaders as the protectors of a defenceless and exposed nation.
Oddly, while scores of young Gazans continue to be killed at the fence separating Gaza from Israel while protesting the Israeli siege on the Strip, it is the Israelis who claim to be targeted, unsafe and victimised.
The newest wall, once it is officially launched with massive fanfare, will still make no difference. It will not upgrade the status of the Gaza siege in any way, nor will it alter the collective fear that has been thoroughly instilled in ordinary Israelis.
For Gazans, wall or no wall, the siege will remain intact.
Israeli wall architects may argue that the latest wall will deter Palestinians from digging tunnels as well as preventing resistance fighters from circumventing the siege via the sea – since part of this underground barrier will also extend into the Mediterranean Sea.
However, there is no proof that walls or fences, over ground or underground barriers have prevented Palestinians from retaliating against Israeli attacks. If the Israeli logic holds any truth, Palestinian resistance would have dissipated or folded decades ago as the Israeli siege mentality was put into practice from the very start of the Israeli war on the Palestinian people.
Israel receives $3.8 billion in US funding, in addition to hundreds of millions in loans and other financial giveaways which are mostly used to fortify Israel’s so-called security. To no avail. Palestinians, impoverished and incarcerated in Bantustan-like structures and open-air prisons, continue with their resistance unhindered.
It is clear that the Israeli security model has failed. In fact, that model never had a chance of success in the first place. The additional Israeli wall around Gaza and the hundreds of other walls and fences that are yet to be built are only meant to feed the collective illusion among Israelis and their leaders that the answer to their problem does not lie in ending the apartheid regime, military occupation and siege, but in adding more layers of “security”.
“At the end of the day as I see it, there will be a fence like this one surrounding Israel in its entirety. We will surround the entire state of Israel with a fence, a barrier,” Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on 9 February 2016 during a visit of the construction site of the barrier around Gaza.
Netanyahu added: “In our neighborhood, we need to protect ourselves from wild beasts.”
While such language and behaviour reflect the deeply-rooted racist mentality at work in Israel, they also underscore the dehumanized way in which Israel sees Palestinians. Since “wild beasts” are not human, they can be killed en masse, besieged and ethnically cleansed in their millions without an iota of regret or remorse.
The problem then is not that of “security” or so-called “terrorism”. Not that of Hamas, or any other group, secular or Islamist. It is not that of Gaza’s March of Return or of children approaching the fences around Gaza. The problem is the entrenched Israeli racist mentality that perceives Palestinian natives as sub-humans and as “wild beasts” to be exterminated or forever besieged.
6 oct 2019
Palestinian MP Jamal Al-Khodari said Friday that 100 per cent of Gaza factories have been completely or at least partially destroyed and put out of business due to the Israeli siege and repeated aggressions that have been going on for the last 12 years.
In his statement, Al-Khodari clarified that hundreds of shops and factory units have shut down over the last years, pushing the povery rate to 85% and the unemployment rate to a staggering 60%.
In a previous statement, the MP, who is also the head of the Popular Committee against the Siege on Gaza, explained that about 3500 factories had already closed their books because of the continuous violence.
The Israeli occupation is still imposing restrictions on Gazan imports and exports and according to Al-Khodari, who was also an academic and a businessman, the direct loss to Gaza’s economy because of these measures amounts to about $ 70 million each month.
He concluded his statement by calling on the world to put pressure on the Israeli occupation in order to lift the siege. This would be the solution to ending the suffering of the Gazan citizens.
Worst humanitarian situation since 2007
According to a report published early last month by the Gaza Aid Association in Istanbul, the situation in Gaza is currently “the worst over the years of siege”. Additionally, the blockaded strip has registered the highest tragic humanitarian figures in the world.
The numbers in said report marked an unemployment rate of 52% (now 60%), a poverty rate of 53% (now 85%), a water pollution rate of 95% and a daily power outage rate of approximately 75%.
Furthermore, the rate of medicine shortage touches 50%, the lack of medical supplies is 27% and the amount of homes destroyed or damaged by Israeli assaults reaches as high as 77%, leaving thousands of families homeless or displaced.
With these numbers still on the rise, the UN estimates that by 2020, the Gaza Strip will no longer be liveable.
In his statement, Al-Khodari clarified that hundreds of shops and factory units have shut down over the last years, pushing the povery rate to 85% and the unemployment rate to a staggering 60%.
In a previous statement, the MP, who is also the head of the Popular Committee against the Siege on Gaza, explained that about 3500 factories had already closed their books because of the continuous violence.
The Israeli occupation is still imposing restrictions on Gazan imports and exports and according to Al-Khodari, who was also an academic and a businessman, the direct loss to Gaza’s economy because of these measures amounts to about $ 70 million each month.
He concluded his statement by calling on the world to put pressure on the Israeli occupation in order to lift the siege. This would be the solution to ending the suffering of the Gazan citizens.
Worst humanitarian situation since 2007
According to a report published early last month by the Gaza Aid Association in Istanbul, the situation in Gaza is currently “the worst over the years of siege”. Additionally, the blockaded strip has registered the highest tragic humanitarian figures in the world.
The numbers in said report marked an unemployment rate of 52% (now 60%), a poverty rate of 53% (now 85%), a water pollution rate of 95% and a daily power outage rate of approximately 75%.
Furthermore, the rate of medicine shortage touches 50%, the lack of medical supplies is 27% and the amount of homes destroyed or damaged by Israeli assaults reaches as high as 77%, leaving thousands of families homeless or displaced.
With these numbers still on the rise, the UN estimates that by 2020, the Gaza Strip will no longer be liveable.
5 oct 2019
Israeli soldiers closed, Saturday, the main entrance road of Beit Ummar town, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Local activist Mohammad Awad, said the soldiers closed the main road entering Beit Ummar, and prevented the Palestinians and their vehicles from entering or leaving it from that area.
He added that the soldiers closed the iron gate, which was installed by the army several years ago, and added that the army frequently closes the gate without any reason.
Local activist Mohammad Awad, said the soldiers closed the main road entering Beit Ummar, and prevented the Palestinians and their vehicles from entering or leaving it from that area.
He added that the soldiers closed the iron gate, which was installed by the army several years ago, and added that the army frequently closes the gate without any reason.
1 oct 2019
Hebrew media sources announced today that the Israeli occupation forces have completed 43 out of the 60 kilometer wall along the border with the Gaza Strip, equivalent to 70% of the total project which was described as the largest engineering projects.
The wall is meant to “eliminate the tunnels” of the Palestinian resistance.
According to Channel 2, 1,400 workers are working 24 hours a day, six days a week, day and night, to complete the project as soon as possible.
The wall starts from the southern Gaza Strip, near the triangle between Israel-Egypt and Gaza, and crosses the border line to the sea shore in Zikim in the south.
The wall is meant to “eliminate the tunnels” of the Palestinian resistance.
According to Channel 2, 1,400 workers are working 24 hours a day, six days a week, day and night, to complete the project as soon as possible.
The wall starts from the southern Gaza Strip, near the triangle between Israel-Egypt and Gaza, and crosses the border line to the sea shore in Zikim in the south.
Lion cubs at a zoo in Gaza on 11 September 2019
Animal rights activists are furious that a zoo in the Gaza Strip which was shut down earlier this year because of the poor conditions has reopened with lions billed as the main attraction.
The big cats were apparently smuggled into the tiny Palestinian enclave via tunnels from Egypt recently.
Personally, I think all zoos should be closed down, but this particular story in Britain’s Times newspaper — headlined “‘Cruel’ Gaza zoo reopens with smuggled lions as star attraction” — exposes the rank hypocrisy of the Western media and the value placed on Palestinian lives.
The fact that more than two million Palestinians are crammed in to what is often described as the largest open-air prison in the world is not mentioned in the story.
Nor is the brutal siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, even though the blockade covers land, air and sea, and keeps nearly 40 per cent of the population in dire poverty. And is, no doubt, responsible for the poor condition of zoo animals.
Israel is denying Palestinians their basic human rights in contravention of international law, which amounts to collective punishment.
Nevertheless, the Zionist state maintains the blockade aided and abetted by Egypt and its friends in the West, and is therefore directly responsible for the grinding poverty and misery affecting the Palestinians.
Apart from basic imports and exports, Israel also restricts all movement of people in and out of Gaza regardless of their need for life-saving medical care or if they are invited to attend academic, sporting or business events.
Agricultural land is attacked regularly by Israel, with the crops destroyed in bombing raids, and Gaza’s territorial waters are the only place in the Mediterranean Sea where gunboats patrol and fire on fishermen going about their lawful business. That is how Israel maintains its naval blockade of the enclave.
The Times article makes no mention of the fact that the water supply in Gaza is virtually undrinkable, nor that this is down to the Israelis destroying the water and sewage infrastructure and other vital facilities, and then preventing spare parts from being imported.
Electricity supplies are sporadic, with power cuts for hours on end every day. This has catastrophic effects on hospitals, for example, where vital treatment is disrupted when the power cuts happen.
Electrical generators intended for short-term emergency use are expected to take up the slack, and they too break down with increasing frequency. And, you’ve guessed it, Israel will not allow spare parts to be imported.
Moreover, Israel regularly violates international laws and human rights in other, more deadly, ways. Its snipers have shot and killed more than 200 men, women and children in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Great March of Return protests in March last year; tens of thousands have been wounded, many with life-changing injuries.
Accusations of war crimes against civilians have been made, but Israel is allowed to act with impunity by the international community.
Thousands of people, many of them children, risk their lives daily while smuggling goods through the tunnels under the border with Egypt.
Once described as “Gaza’s lifeline”, for many Palestinians the tunnels are the only way to take construction materials, medicines and food into the coastal territory, where thousands of families still live in makeshift shelters following three major Israeli military offensives over the past decade.
Hence, while I refuse to condone any inhumane treatment of animals anywhere, I do wish that newspapers like the Times would put the lives and treatment of the Palestinians on a par with our own; they are, after all, fellow human beings.
Sadly, though, it seems that the well-being of peacocks, lions and monkeys are far more important to the editor of the Times than the welfare of Palestinian men, women and children. This says a lot about the newspaper’s target audience as well.
The charity Four Paws has sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza asking it to confiscate the animals from the newly reopened zoo. “The new images from Rafah zoo are very disturbing,” a spokesman for the organisation, Martin Bauer, told the Times.
“The new animals are being kept in conditions that are inappropriate for their species. They do not look healthy and instead seem to be urgently in need of medical help and food.”
I wonder where Mr Bauer expects the ministry to get the food, medicines and equipment necessary to keep the confiscated animals in better conditions. Perhaps he should have addressed his letter to the Israeli government instead.
Animal rights activists are furious that a zoo in the Gaza Strip which was shut down earlier this year because of the poor conditions has reopened with lions billed as the main attraction.
The big cats were apparently smuggled into the tiny Palestinian enclave via tunnels from Egypt recently.
Personally, I think all zoos should be closed down, but this particular story in Britain’s Times newspaper — headlined “‘Cruel’ Gaza zoo reopens with smuggled lions as star attraction” — exposes the rank hypocrisy of the Western media and the value placed on Palestinian lives.
The fact that more than two million Palestinians are crammed in to what is often described as the largest open-air prison in the world is not mentioned in the story.
Nor is the brutal siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, even though the blockade covers land, air and sea, and keeps nearly 40 per cent of the population in dire poverty. And is, no doubt, responsible for the poor condition of zoo animals.
Israel is denying Palestinians their basic human rights in contravention of international law, which amounts to collective punishment.
Nevertheless, the Zionist state maintains the blockade aided and abetted by Egypt and its friends in the West, and is therefore directly responsible for the grinding poverty and misery affecting the Palestinians.
Apart from basic imports and exports, Israel also restricts all movement of people in and out of Gaza regardless of their need for life-saving medical care or if they are invited to attend academic, sporting or business events.
Agricultural land is attacked regularly by Israel, with the crops destroyed in bombing raids, and Gaza’s territorial waters are the only place in the Mediterranean Sea where gunboats patrol and fire on fishermen going about their lawful business. That is how Israel maintains its naval blockade of the enclave.
The Times article makes no mention of the fact that the water supply in Gaza is virtually undrinkable, nor that this is down to the Israelis destroying the water and sewage infrastructure and other vital facilities, and then preventing spare parts from being imported.
Electricity supplies are sporadic, with power cuts for hours on end every day. This has catastrophic effects on hospitals, for example, where vital treatment is disrupted when the power cuts happen.
Electrical generators intended for short-term emergency use are expected to take up the slack, and they too break down with increasing frequency. And, you’ve guessed it, Israel will not allow spare parts to be imported.
Moreover, Israel regularly violates international laws and human rights in other, more deadly, ways. Its snipers have shot and killed more than 200 men, women and children in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Great March of Return protests in March last year; tens of thousands have been wounded, many with life-changing injuries.
Accusations of war crimes against civilians have been made, but Israel is allowed to act with impunity by the international community.
Thousands of people, many of them children, risk their lives daily while smuggling goods through the tunnels under the border with Egypt.
Once described as “Gaza’s lifeline”, for many Palestinians the tunnels are the only way to take construction materials, medicines and food into the coastal territory, where thousands of families still live in makeshift shelters following three major Israeli military offensives over the past decade.
Hence, while I refuse to condone any inhumane treatment of animals anywhere, I do wish that newspapers like the Times would put the lives and treatment of the Palestinians on a par with our own; they are, after all, fellow human beings.
Sadly, though, it seems that the well-being of peacocks, lions and monkeys are far more important to the editor of the Times than the welfare of Palestinian men, women and children. This says a lot about the newspaper’s target audience as well.
The charity Four Paws has sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza asking it to confiscate the animals from the newly reopened zoo. “The new images from Rafah zoo are very disturbing,” a spokesman for the organisation, Martin Bauer, told the Times.
“The new animals are being kept in conditions that are inappropriate for their species. They do not look healthy and instead seem to be urgently in need of medical help and food.”
I wonder where Mr Bauer expects the ministry to get the food, medicines and equipment necessary to keep the confiscated animals in better conditions. Perhaps he should have addressed his letter to the Israeli government instead.
Palestinian children look through the fence of a lion cage at the Rafah Zoo in Gaza City, Gaza on 13 February 2019
Furthermore, wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were charities in the world today that attracted as much positive media attention after focusing on the wellbeing of the good citizens of Gaza who are also being kept by the brutal Israeli siege in conditions that are inhumane?
They too are “urgently in need of medical help and food”, with children suffering from malnutrition and basic food and medicines in desperately short supply.
Instead, charities which seek to help the Palestinians are targeted with sanctions and accused of “supporting terrorism”. This disparity in the way that such organisations are treated really is a disgrace.
There are two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip staring into the abyss of a humanitarian catastrophe which is set to make this tiny scrap of Palestine “unliveable” by next year, so why doesn’t the Times take an interest in that appalling reality?
Animal cruelty should never be trivialised, but the critics of the conditions in that small zoo in the Gaza Strip really have exposed the value that is placed on Palestinian lives.
We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing this to happen to men, women and children, as well as animals.
Furthermore, wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were charities in the world today that attracted as much positive media attention after focusing on the wellbeing of the good citizens of Gaza who are also being kept by the brutal Israeli siege in conditions that are inhumane?
They too are “urgently in need of medical help and food”, with children suffering from malnutrition and basic food and medicines in desperately short supply.
Instead, charities which seek to help the Palestinians are targeted with sanctions and accused of “supporting terrorism”. This disparity in the way that such organisations are treated really is a disgrace.
There are two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip staring into the abyss of a humanitarian catastrophe which is set to make this tiny scrap of Palestine “unliveable” by next year, so why doesn’t the Times take an interest in that appalling reality?
Animal cruelty should never be trivialised, but the critics of the conditions in that small zoo in the Gaza Strip really have exposed the value that is placed on Palestinian lives.
We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing this to happen to men, women and children, as well as animals.
29 sept 2019
The Israeli occupation authorities have imposed a strict siege on the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, starting on Saturday night at midnight and ending on Tuesday night at midnight, during the celebration of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana).
All of the border crossings leading to the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip have been closed, while the Israeli army has also imposed many roadblocks across the occupied West Bank.
In addition, the Israeli police deployed more units in occupied Jerusalem, especially on roads and alleys leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, preventing dozens of Palestinians, especially young men, from entering the holy site.
The restrictions on entry into Al-Aqsa include Palestinian men with Israeli citizenship, while a few women were allowed into the holy site after the soldiers and the police held their ID cards as a precondition of entry, to collect them once they leave.
It is worth mentioning that the severe restrictions on the entry into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surrounding areas are taking place Israeli paramilitary settler leaders and Israeli officials are calling for massive provocative tours into the holy site, to celebrate the Jewish new year.
On Sunday morning, at least 120 illegal Israeli colonial settlers invaded the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, through the al-Magharba Gate, while the soldiers removed the Muslim worshipers to facilitate these provocative tours. The invasion was led by Israeli Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel and Likud Member of Knesset Yehuda Glick. video video
It is worth mentioning that fanatic groups in Israel have created a greeting card to be used in celebrating Rosh Hashana showing an image of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound completely vacant of any mosque or Islamic structure, with the Mosque (the third holiest site in Islam) “replaced” on the card’s image with a Jewish temple.
This is part of their openly-stated mission to demolish Al-Aqsa and build a Jewish temple in its place. Many Ministers of the current interim government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu frequently participate in the provocative tours into Al-Aqsa, and support the idea of demolishing it to “rebuild the temple” that was demolished by the Romans over 2000 years ago.
All of the border crossings leading to the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip have been closed, while the Israeli army has also imposed many roadblocks across the occupied West Bank.
In addition, the Israeli police deployed more units in occupied Jerusalem, especially on roads and alleys leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, preventing dozens of Palestinians, especially young men, from entering the holy site.
The restrictions on entry into Al-Aqsa include Palestinian men with Israeli citizenship, while a few women were allowed into the holy site after the soldiers and the police held their ID cards as a precondition of entry, to collect them once they leave.
It is worth mentioning that the severe restrictions on the entry into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surrounding areas are taking place Israeli paramilitary settler leaders and Israeli officials are calling for massive provocative tours into the holy site, to celebrate the Jewish new year.
On Sunday morning, at least 120 illegal Israeli colonial settlers invaded the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, through the al-Magharba Gate, while the soldiers removed the Muslim worshipers to facilitate these provocative tours. The invasion was led by Israeli Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel and Likud Member of Knesset Yehuda Glick. video video
It is worth mentioning that fanatic groups in Israel have created a greeting card to be used in celebrating Rosh Hashana showing an image of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound completely vacant of any mosque or Islamic structure, with the Mosque (the third holiest site in Islam) “replaced” on the card’s image with a Jewish temple.
This is part of their openly-stated mission to demolish Al-Aqsa and build a Jewish temple in its place. Many Ministers of the current interim government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu frequently participate in the provocative tours into Al-Aqsa, and support the idea of demolishing it to “rebuild the temple” that was demolished by the Romans over 2000 years ago.
