Official and unofficial circles, Palestinian and Jordanian, condemned the raising of the Israeli flag by settlers during their storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, earlier today, Tuesday.
Condemnations came from the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Supreme Islamic Council in the occupied Holy City.
According to the Islamic Endowments Department, 526 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in two periods, and the Endowments Department published pictures showing some settlers wearing the Israeli flag or raising it inside the blessed mosque.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry expressed – in a statement – its condemnation of “extremists storming Al-Aqsa Mosque today and raising the Israeli flag inside its courtyards under the protection of the Israeli occupation police, in addition to obstructing worshipers from entering the mosque.”
It considered that this “represents a flagrant and unacceptable violation of international law and the existing historical and legal situation in Jerusalem and its sanctities.”
A place of worship
The Jordanian Ministry stressed that “Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of 144 dunums, is a pure place of worship for Muslims, and Israel has no sovereignty over it or over occupied East Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.”
The Foreign Ministry called on Israel “in its capacity as the occupying power, to cease all practices and violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to respect its sanctity,” according to the same Jordanian statement.
Jordan reserves its right to supervise religious affairs in Jerusalem under the “Wadi Araba” peace agreement it signed with Israel in 1994.
In March 2013, King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed an agreement giving the Kingdom the right to “custodianship and defense of Jerusalem and the holy sites” in Palestine.
A dangerous precedent
In Palestine, the Supreme Presidential Committee for Church Affairs considered that raising the occupation flags at Al-Aqsa “is a dangerous precedent and an attempt to change the historical, legal and political status of the occupied city of Jerusalem, and its Islamic and Christian sanctities.”
The Supreme Committee said – in a statement issued by its Chairman, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Ramzi Khoury – that these repeated violations “represent a new attempt to create a new reality in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and an aggression against its great religious status.”
It also saw the move as “a challenge to the Arab and Islamic nations, a blatant violation of international law, and a violation of the customs and agreements that protect holy sites and religious places.”
The Supreme Committee for Church Affairs stressed that “no sovereignty over the occupied city of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the rest of the Islamic and Christian holy sites therein belongs except to the Palestinian people.”
It called on “the relevant international institutions and the churches of the whole world to take serious stances regarding what these extremist colonialists and their government are doing to Islamic and Christian sanctities, and to provide protection for them as protected places of worship from the point of view of international law, in order to preserve their sanctity and sanctity, and to reject attempts to change their status.” existing legal and historical.
A settler performed the “epic prostration” ritual as he stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday morning, wearing the Israeli flag, under the protection of the occupation police. Epic prostration is a biblical ritual in which the worshiper lies on the ground. pic.twitter.com/IaI0bOk3nc
– Tel Aviv Tribune Net | Jerusalem (@Aljazeeraquds) May 14, 2024
In turn, the Council of Endowments, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites in Jerusalem condemned “in the strongest terms… displaying the Israeli flag, performing public Talmudic rituals, and singing and dancing loudly inside the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
He added in a statement that “these provocations took place amid tight protection by the occupation police, who deliberately militarized the mosque, its surroundings, its courtyards, and the roads leading to it, with the aim of preventing visitors to the mosque and worshipers from reaching their blessed mosque.”
The Council of Endowments and Islamic Holy Sites in Jerusalem called on all countries of the Arab and Islamic world to “bear their responsibility towards one of the most important Muslim mosques, and to put pressure on the occupation government to stop its violations against the Holy Mosque.”
The statement warned of “the extent of the disdain and the aggravation of violations against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is leading the region and the entire world to further tension and establishing a state of instability, which the time has come to put an end to, reject, and reject every policy or approach that belittles the sanctities of Muslims and their rights.”
Storm and brag
In addition to raising the Israeli flag, during the storming, public prayers were performed in the eastern courtyard of the Noble Mosque, and what they call the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah,” was chanted in front of the “Western Boundary” separating the Dome of the Rock prayer hall and Bab al-Silsilah, one of the doors of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
These violations come on the anniversary of the Nakba, in response to the extremist Temple groups’ call to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque on the so-called Israeli “Independence Day,” corresponding to May 14 every year, and urging their supporters to raise hundreds of Israeli flags on this occasion “in the holiest place for the nation of Israel,” as they put it.
To ensure a quiet intrusion of extremists into the Blessed Mosque, the Israeli police stationed at the doors escalated their violations by preventing most worshipers from entering it, and also closed the Damascus Gate, one of the most famous gates of ancient Jerusalem.
On their pages, Temple groups bragged about publishing a video clip of a settler storming the mosque and raising the Israeli flag in front of the “Western Baccha,” while others with him began singing “Hatikvah.”
Since 2003, Israel has unilaterally allowed settlers to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque without the approval of the Islamic Endowments Department (affiliated with Jordan), which has since demanded that the raids stop.
The raids on Al-Aqsa take place daily except Friday and Saturday of every week, while their frequency increases on Jewish holidays and occasions.
Tel Aviv celebrates – Monday and Tuesday – what is called “Independence Day”, which dates to the Nakba of Palestine and the establishment of Israel in 1948 on the land of Palestine. However, this year’s anniversary comes in the wake of a devastating war launched by the occupation army since October 7, 2023, against the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip. .