Ukraine in Arabic | UAE condemns Israeli intrusion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, on Wednesday condemned the “barbaric intrusion” by the Israeli regime’s special forces into the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, “during which worshippers were assaulted and the sanctity of the holy place was defiled, to make way for Jewish visitors on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot”.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah said that Israel's plans to transform the Bab Al Qataneen gate into the al-Aqsa compound as a point of entry for Israeli Jews to bring in a replica of the long-vanished Jewish temple "could exacerbate the situation." He added these plans were just another proof of the Israeli government's "extremist nature".
The highest Emirati diplomat labelled Israel's actions against the Palestinians as "a flagrant and systematic insult to the sentiments and principles of millions of Muslims around the world"
Sheikh Abdullah deplored "the reprehensible crime of the Israeli occupation forces" in firing bullets and bombs inside the al-Aqsa compound, which led to the injuring of dozens of worshippers.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, clashes erupted between Israeli police and Palestinian prayers who were protesting that Jewish settlers were allowed to enter the yard of the al-Aqsa compound. Four Israeli police officers and dozens of Palestinians were injured when Palestinian prayers tried to prevent Jewish settlers from entering the site.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is a holy place for Muslims in east Jerusalem. Though the site is located in Jerusalem, Jordan oversees the al- Aqsa mosque and all other Muslim and Christian religious sites in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.
Frequent visits by Israeli Jews to the site have provoked Palestinian Muslims and often led to violent clashes with Israeli soldiers guarding the compound.
Earlier in the year, right-wing Israeli parliament member Moshe Feiglin entered the al-Aqsa compound, provoking many Palestinians, as his visit came shortly after members of the Israeli parliament called for session to discuss imposing Israel's sovereignty over the compound.
Controversies over the al-Aqsa mosque have sparked violent clashes in the past. A visit to the compound by Israeli leader Ariel Sharon in 2000 was widely seen as a trigger for the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, which engulfed Israel and the Palestinian territories in bloody violence for years.
