English
العربية
Français
Deutsch
Español
русский
हिंदी
اردو
Login57 Years After Al-Aqsa Arson, Judaization Plots Relentlessly Mount
Doha, August 24 (QNA) - Fifty-seven years after the arson at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site and the site of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey, the anniversary of the crime is no longer merely a reminder of a dark day in Jerusalem's history.
Instead, it has become an occasion to sound the warning bells over Israeli plans, pursued both openly and covertly, to alter the historic status quo and Al-Aqsa's Islamic identity and take control of the mosque and the surrounding areas by every means at its disposal.
The fire set by Christian extremist Michael Dennis Rohan in the Qibli prayer hall in 1969, which decimated Saladin's historic pulpit and large parts of the prayer hall, left a deep wound that awakened the Muslim world.
The arson masterminded by Christian extremist Michael Dennis Rohan in the Qibli prayer hall in 1969, which destroyed Saladin's historic pulpit and large parts of the prayer hall, left a profound wound that awakened the Muslim world from its slumber, with rage reigning and protests filling the streets of cities from Morocco to Indonesia.
Consequently, Security Council Resolution 271 was issued condemning this criminal act and called on Israel to respect Jerusalem's character and revoke all measures intended to alter the city's status quo.
Born out of that shock, the Organization of the Islamic Conference - now the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) - emerged at the first Islamic summit in Rabat in September 1969 as a symbol of broad Islamic unity around the holy sites.
While the fire had been put off and the damage it caused at Al-Aqsa had been rebuilt, the menace lurking around the mosque today is more complex and amorphous than ever, because it doesn't pose as a fire that can be put off, but rather in a form of perilous Zionist plots and programs that accumulate based on premeditated schedules and strategies.
These plots and programs on the ground are intended to impose new realities through recurrent incursions, coupled with religious rites on the Mosque's compound and unleashing throttles on Muslim worshippers and the Waqf's authority, as well as construction projects and archaeological excavations around the Old City.
These are obviously persistent efforts to redefine the status quo and attempts to entrench a temporal and spatial division at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site.
In June, 26 incursions were recorded, involving 4,212 settlers. In the following July, the figure rose to 27 incursions, involving more than 9,670 settlers, including 4,288 in a single day.
The incursions have gone beyond mere visits, dramatically involving religious rites and Israeli flag-hoisting processions, some attended by Israeli officials, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Knesset members and leaders of extremist groups openly calling for the rebuilding of what they call the Third Temple.
The menace is literally not the numbers of those aggressors, as long as the Mosque has been accustomed to coming under years-long incursions. However, the rise of new Israeli government politicians in the theatre gives the issue a different dimension, making the dividing line more blurred between the activities of extremist religious groups and the positions pursued by officials in the sanctums of the occupier's institutions.
The massive storming of Al-Aqsa last July was a harbinger of what the situation would look like as Jewish holidays approach in September and October. Palestinian fears are being heightened by the precedent of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, where the aftermath of the 1994 massacre led to arrangements dividing the site and separating worship times between Muslims and Jews, making the Israeli unlawful actions a portent for a similar path.
Head of the Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Ekrima Sabri called for heading to Al-Aqsa and remaining steadfast there on Tuesday, marking the painful anniversary of its arson.
He appealed to the Arab and Islamic nations to bend every effort to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque, all sanctities and endowment properties in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine, stressing that commemorating this arson remains a moment of grief and a provocative act in the nation's history that must remind rising generations of the nefarious assault the Mosque suffered and to remain permanently vigilant of the lurking risks facing it.
Sheikh Sabri described the anniversary as a timely opportunity to uphold the immutable Islamic rights at the Mosque and convey the voice of Jerusalem to the entire world, stressing that these rights can never be waived or compromised under any circumstance.
He stressed that the memory of his arson will remain alive in the nation's consciousness and will never be forgotten as long as Al-Aqsa Mosque continues to come under daily persistent threats posed by incursions, ongoing excavations and other assaults.
Sabri reiterated his praise for the indomitable spirit of the people of Jerusalem and the nation and their adherence to Al-Aqsa Mosque, calling for continued defense of this great trust and preservation of its enduring religious and historical status.
Palestinian analysts say Israel doesn’t officially declare an end to the status quo at Al-Aqsa, but alters it on the ground by allowing settlers to storm it on an almost daily basis in growing numbers and unprecedented figures, restricting Muslim worshippers' access to it, closing and reopening it whenever it wishes, and turning its security control over the Mosque into permanent sovereignty.
They added that what is transpiring can’t be interpreted as a series of separate security measures imposed by Israel during times of tension, but rather as an accumulated process of reshaping the status quo at the Mosque, using states of war and emergency to accelerate transformations that began years ago and are advancing on parallel security, religious, political, legislative and institutional levels.
The analysts stress that the occupation authorities, when security crises reach their peak, treat the Mosque as part of a security and sovereignty system that they can run roughshod over through their decisions, rather than as a religious site governed by historical and legal arrangements that prevent the suspension of its Islamic religious function.
Israeli police are no longer merely a force stationed outside the Mosque to prevent friction, but have become an actor within its management system through the gates, expulsions, searches, movement, the organization of incursions and the handling of religious practices, in the hope that the repeated exception will gradually become a management practice and an almost routine matter.
The International Jerusalem Foundation says that popular action and resistance in all its forms are what can be relied upon at this stage to restore a deterrence equation that protects Al-Aqsa.
The administration of Al-Aqsa is overseen by the Jerusalem Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, a public Islamic institution operating under the Hashemite Jordanian custodianship over it and affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites.
The department exercises its authority under international humanitarian law and is entrusted with overseeing the Mosque's affairs as the last religious and administrative authority to have supervised the Mosque before it came under Israeli occupation in 1967.
Its responsibilities include the Mosque's employees, custodians and guards, restoration work, and opening and closing its gates, in addition to overseeing all other Jerusalem mosques and holy sites, endowment properties that account for 50 percent of the city's real estate, and Sharia courts, with more than 800 employees.
The historic status refers to the historic agreement governing the administration of holy sites in Jerusalem, which was signed during the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century and subsequently recognized internationally. Among its provisions is that "no modifications can be introduced to the status quo at the holy sites", including Islamic and Christian sites. (QNA)
chat
Hello! How can we help?
Beta
