Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – A group of Jewish settlers Monday stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound for prayers, a Palestinian official said. Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, the head of Islamic Waqf department in occupied Jerusalem, said that 14 settlers entered the complex through the Al-Magharebah gate. Al-Khatib added that settlers toured the Al-Aqsa Mosque plaza under the guard of Israeli police and Border Guard officers. The officials said that the group started provoking the Muslim worshipers. He added that the settlers move is part of “Israeli measures to Judaize what has been left of Jerusalem “by intensifying the Jewish presence in it and de facto policy to set aside time for Jewish worshipers on the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound,” referring to a bill by rightist Israeli Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad. On August, Eldad, of rightist National Union party, proposed in his bill that a daily division that would allow each religious group to access the “Temple Mount” (Al-Aqsa Mosque Complex) during its usual daily prayer times. Jews have three set prayer times on weekdays, while Muslims have five. Eldad also proposed giving each group full access on its holidays. When holidays overlap, he was quoted by the rightist Channel 7 television, the day would be split between the two faiths. The Israeli MK said that his proposal is reminiscent of the arrangement in Al-Ibrahimi Mosque (the Cave of the Patriarchs) in West Bank city of Hebron. Al-Ibrahimi Mosque is the second holiest Islamic site in Palestinian territories after Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. The mosque was divided into Muslim and Jewish sections by an Israeli government special committee called “Shamgar committee” after a 1994 massacre that took place in the mosque when a Jewish occupier opened fire on Muslim worshippers killing and injuring 26 at Fajr (dawn) prayer. Since then, Israeli authorities have violated Muslim rights in the Ibrahimi Mosque by restricting Muslims to praying in the mosque. The authorities gave Jewish occupiers access to the Muslim holy site which Israeli forces close for Jewish holidays. The occupiers desecrated this holy mosque and often embarrassed and ridicule Muslims.
