With the approach of the Jewish Passover, extremist clerics are increasing their incursions into the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid calls and encouragement from the activists of the “Return to the Temple” movement to offer their offerings in the third holiest mosque for Muslims following the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina, in flagrant violation of the status quo, and in a scene that has become a recurring year. A year later since 2021.
The French newspaper “Liberation” said that Easter coincided with the month of Ramadan two years ago, and this led to increased Israeli police measures around the place, at a time when the Palestinians intensified their presence amid fears of Jewish fundamentalist attempts to offer their offerings in the mosque’s yards.
This coincided with the call of activists from the “Return to the Temple” movement to its members to bring their offerings and slaughter them in the square, which prompted hundreds of worshipers to gather in the Al-Qibli Mosque for fear that extremists would take advantage of the morning hours to desecrate the mosque. The police intervened with sound bombs, rubber bullet launchers and batons. Hundreds of young men were arrested before most of them were released in the morning.
The newspaper indicated -in a report By its correspondent in Jerusalem, Samuel Fawry – that the Islamic Endowments Administration believes that Israel is gradually working to break the status quo in Al-Aqsa, and that the Palestinians who are demonstrating once morest extremist Jewish groups entering the mosque are right and that the Israeli police are not authorized to expel them, but rather they must prevent this Extremist groups working to build a synagogue and destroy the mosque have access to the Haram.
According to the reporter, the Israeli police intervention did not pass peacefully, as Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired regarding 15 shells from Gaza towards its periphery, and a rocket landed in a packing factory, in a reaction reminiscent of the escalation in May 2021, following a violent intervention by the Israeli security forces that resulted in an injury. 500 people during the evacuation of the square at the end of the month of Ramadan, followed by a military campaign that lasted 11 days.
Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri said that the Israeli aggression once morest worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque is a heinous crime, and that “the Palestinian people and the resistance forces will respond with all their might.”
