Rituals, dancing, and singing... Hundreds of settlers renew their storming of Al-Aqsa

Jerusalem - Ofoq News - Since Wednesday morning, hundreds of Israeli settlers have renewed their incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city of Jerusalem, on the occasion of the celebration of the Jewish “Throne Day”.

An official in the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said that hundreds of settlers renewed their storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque since the morning hours, under the guard of the Israeli police.

The official, who preferred to remain anonymous, added that the raids included the performance of Talmudic rituals, prayers, dancing, and singing, in violation of the existing situation in the mosque.

The prevailing historical situation since before the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 is that the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem (affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments) is the exclusive and only responsible for managing the affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of ​​144 dunums (a dunum equals a thousand square metres) as a pure place of worship for Muslims.

Extremist Israeli right-wing groups called for massive incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque during the period of Sukkot, which began on Saturday and continues until Friday.

The Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem reported earlier that more than 1,500 settlers stormed the mosque on Sunday, more than 1,700 on Monday, and then more than 1,400 on Tuesday.

Al-Aqsa has witnessed an escalation in settler incursions since the start of the Jewish holidays, amid tight protection from Israeli forces and military measures in Jerusalem.

These holidays began with the Hebrew New Year on September 12 and 13, then “Yom Kippur” on the 21 and 22 of the same month, while “Sukkot” extends from September 26 to October 2, until the “Seal of the Torah” on October 3.

Since 2003, the Israeli police have unilaterally allowed settlers to storm Al-Aqsa through the Mughrabi Gate in the western wall of the mosque, accompanied by police officers.

The Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem has long called for an end to the raids, but without a response from the Israeli authorities.

The Palestinians say that Israel has been intensifying its attacks for decades aimed at Judaizing East Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, and obliterating its Arab and Islamic identity.

The Palestinians cling to East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state, based on international legitimacy resolutions that do not recognize Israel’s occupation of the city in 1967 nor its annexation in 1980.

In 1948, Israel was established on lands occupied by armed Zionist gangs that committed massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians. Then Tel Aviv occupied the rest of the Palestinian territories, and refused to withdraw and establish the Palestinian state stipulated in UN resolutions.