The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the international community to face an “incentive” to seriously destroy the sacred site.
The Palestinian government has expressed “extreme concern” concerning threats circulating among Israeli settlers to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warned calls for Israeli settlers on Saturday circulating on Hebrew social media platforms to attack and demolish the mosque and build a temple in its place.
The compound of the Al-Aqsa mosque in occupying Jerusalem is the third most sacred site in Islam and a symbol of Palestinian identity. It is administered by Jordan, but access to the site itself is controlled by Israeli soldiers. It is also considered an important site by the Jews, who believe that it is the site of the first and second temples, the latter destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Earlier this week, a video generated by AL describing the destruction of the mosque and the construction of the “third temple” under the title “Next year in Jerusalem” was published on platforms.
In a press release published on X, the ministry said that it considers articles on social networks as a “systematic incentive to intensify the targeting of Christian and Islamic saints sites in occupied Jerusalem”.
“The ministry calls for the international community and its relevant UN institutions to face this incentive with the greatest gravity and to take the measures required by international law,” he said.
Regular target
Al-Aqsa has become a regular target of visits by right-wing Israeli politicians and Israeli settlers, who stormed the enclosure on an almost weekly basis and carried out religious rituals under the protection of Israeli forces.
In the status quo of several decades, maintained by the Israeli authorities, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the enclosure of East Jerusalem-East during the specified hours, but they are not allowed to pray or display religious symbols.
Last August, the Israeli Minister of Right’s National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, caused indignation by saying that he would build a Jewish synagogue in the Al-Aqsa mosque complex, known to the Jews under the name of Mount of the Temple.
Once considered a marginal movement, the campaign to build a “third temple” on Al-Aqsa is developing in Israel, and many Palestinians see parallels with what happened in Hebron, where the Ibrahimi mosque, also known as the Patriarch cave, was partitioned.
Since its entry into office in December 2022, Ben-Gvir, as Minister of National Security, has visited the sacred site at least six times, leading to a serious conviction.