5/26/2024–|Last updated: 5/26/202401:37 PM (Mecca time)
Today, Sunday, dozens of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque amid an intense deployment of occupation forces, after thousands of them gathered in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, last night, on the occasion of the so-called Jewish “Torch” holiday.
The Islamic Endowments Department said, in a brief statement, that 170 settlers, Jewish students, and Israeli intelligence personnel stormed the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Mughrabi Gate, in its western wall.
Meanwhile, the occupation police, stationed at the gates of the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque, prevented a number of citizens from entering, causing a decrease in the number of worshipers.
The raids came in response to calls from extremist settlement groups to storm Al-Aqsa on the so-called Jewish “Festival of Torch.”
On the same occasion, thousands of settlers gathered last night in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, amid noise and loud celebrations on the occasion of the holiday, at a time when the movement of Palestinian residents was prohibited, and it is expected that more settlers will gather in the celebrations that will continue next night as well.
The Jerusalem Governorate, a Palestinian government agency, said in a statement that the occupation forces continue to close the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and “impose a tight siege on Othman bin Affan, Khaled bin Al-Walid and Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq streets in the neighborhood.”
She pointed out “the presence of a policeman, erecting barriers and iron barricades, and preventing vehicles or pedestrians from driving through them, with complete permission by the settlers celebrating the Torch Festival.”
For its part, the Wadi Hilweh Human Rights Information Center in Jerusalem said, “Tens of thousands of settlers from all settlements and regions are participating in the celebration in the city of Jerusalem.”
He stated that these settlers performed “prayers in the neighborhood’s cave for an incident in what is called the “tomb of the friend Shimon,” in addition to erecting terraces, platforms, lighting towers, and loudspeakers, on a piece of land owned by two Jerusalemite families and another neighboring one that was controlled.”
The center added that the neighborhood “turned into a military barracks due to the large deployment of forces in different teams around the celebration venue and the adjacent streets,” noting that the celebrations continued “until hours before dawn, with loud voices, dancing, and singing.”
The “Feast of the Torch” falls 33 days after the Jewish “Passover”, during which torches of fire are traditionally lit, in commemoration of the so-called “Jewish revolution against the Romans in the land of Palestine led by Shimon Barkokhba in the year 132 AD, 62 years after the destruction of the Second Temple,” according to their beliefs.
In a move that observers considered an exploitation of the holding of Jewish celebrations in the heart of Jerusalem’s neighborhoods… What are the implications of moving the Jewish “Torch” holiday celebrations from the city of Safed to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem?
For more: pic.twitter.com/8rtQ4LqAlL– Tel Aviv Tribune Net | Jerusalem (@Aljazeeraquds) May 25, 2024
On Eid, torch lighting ceremonies are held in two main places: the area of the tomb of “Simon Al-Siddiq” in Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, and in the occupied village of Meron, west of the city of Safed in northern Palestine.
In a previous interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net, Saleh Dhiab, a resident of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, said that they cannot sleep because of the loud settlers’ celebrations, dancing and singing until after midnight, adding that he is forced to evacuate his family from the house during these holidays.
While the Israeli human rights organization “Ir Amim” published on its Facebook page that the celebration held every year on the “Shuleh” holiday constitutes a disturbance to the neighborhood’s Palestinian residents, adding that “the series of government bodies that work with settler organizations to Judaize East Jerusalem are exploiting this opportunity to promote settlement.” In the heart of the Palestinian neighborhood.