Israeli occupation police stepped up security around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem on Monday after several people were wounded in clashes in and around the holy site.
 
Israeli occupation police said they deployed reinforcements inside the Old City and will continue to limit access to al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslim men over the age of 50 as well as women, adding that the compound will also be open to tourists “like any normal day.”
 
Israeli occupation forces and police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday morning, where dozens of Palestinian worshippers spent the night, fearing a settler take-over during the Jewish holiday of Purim.
 
More than 200 Israeli occupation soldiers and police were surrounding the mosque, using loudspeakers calling on worshippers to evacuate the site. Palestinians responded by using the minarets in the mosque to urge Palestinians to head to the occupied city.
 
Right-wing Israeli groups have called for the destruction of the mosque, which sits atop the site believed by some Jews to be an ancient Jewish temple.
 
Al-Aqsa mosque compound is Islam’s third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina. Muslims refer to it as the Al-Haram Al-Sharif and believe it to be the place where the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) made a night journey to heaven on horseback.
 
The Movement of Hamas on Sunday called for an urgent Arab and Muslim action to curb the Israeli escalation against al-Aqsa Mosque, and international intervention to force Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian land and holy places.
 
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum warned that this escalation is part of a dangerous Zionist scheme aimed to Judaize the whole occupied city of Jerusalem and demolish al-Aqsa Mosque.
 
Barhoum added that Israel started its scheme long time ago when it intensified its settlement activities, displaced Palestinians and demolished their homes, withdrew their ID cards, escalated its break-ins at al-Aqsa Mosque and Judaized the names of streets in the holy city.
 
He stressed that these new Israeli attacks on the holy Mosque, occupied Jerusalem and its people is aimed to reach the goal declared by the Israeli premier about the “Jewish state”.
 
Barhoum said that that the Arab and Muslim passivity towards what is happening in the holy city as well as the Palestinian Authority’s “connivance” encouraged Israel to escalate its violations against al-Aqsa Mosque.
 
Islamic Jihad staged a mass rally in Gaza denouncing renewed violence at Al-Aqsa Mosque and Israel’s recent decision to lay claim to two holy sites in Bethlehem and occupied Al-Khalil.
 
Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Al-Hindi told the assembled crowd that Israel “only understands the language of force. This settlement, called Israel, cannot intimidate our people and our resistance through aggression. “The might of the occupying power will not intimidate us, will not change our conviction in our souls and in our bodies, to give up an inch of Jerusalem, which will remain Palestinian and Muslim,” Al-Hindi said at the rally.
 
The Islamic Jihad leader also called on the leaders of rival factions Hamas and Fatah to immediately unite in opposition to Israel.
 
In response to the tensions at the Temple Mount, Nabil Abu Rodainah, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of stoking tensions to undermine US attempts to revive peace talks. Israel’s actions, he said, would “naturally affect the American efforts and destroy them.”
 
Meanwhile, the PA government, which is based in Ramallah, is set to convene in occupied Al-Khalil on Monday as an act of protest against Israel’s decision to include Ibrahimi Mosque and Bilal ben Rabah Mosque on its so-called “list of national heritage sites”.
 
Al-Khalil Governor Hussein Al Araj said Sunday that the government’s meeting will be a display of official Palestinian presence in the heart of Al-Khalil as a means of countering Israel’s decision.
 
In a press release, secretary-general of the Palestinian legislative council (PLC) Mahmoud Al-Ramahi warned Sunday that the Israeli persistent attacks against the Islamic holy sites in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank would certainly trigger a third Intifada (uprising) against Israel.
 
Ramahi added that these Israeli violations would drag the region into further deterioration and instability, and urged the Palestinian people of occupied Jerusalem and the 1948 occupied lands to march to al-Aqsa Mosque to defend it against the attacks of Israeli settlers and troops.
 
In another separate statement, the PLC said that the PA’s collaboration with Israel against the Palestinian people and resistance fighters in the occupied West Bank encouraged Israeli settlers to escalate their attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque.
 
The PLC also held the US administration and the European countries responsible for these attacks for their ongoing support for Israel and their silence towards its settlement and Judaization activities in the holy city.
 
Head of Al-Quds international institution Ahmed Abu Halabiya, for his part, stated Sunday that the success of Israeli settlers to storm al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards to perform rituals points to the size of the Arab and Muslim impotence.
 
Abu Halabiya urged the Palestinian worshipers inside the Mosque to continue their steadfastness and not give up, and called on the people of occupied Jerusalem and the 1948 lands to head to the Mosque to support their bothers.
 
For his part, MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular committee against the siege, underlined in a press release that occupied Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque are both at a critical juncture and facing difficult moments.
 
In light of the Israeli escalating attacks against al-Aqsa Mosque, Khudari appealed to the Arab summit to be held in Libya later this month to put the different Palestinian files especially the issue of occupied Jerusalem and the holy Mosque on the top of its agenda.
 
For its part, the Islamic-Christian commission for the support of occupied Jerusalem and holy sites strongly denounced the Israeli occupation forces for storming al-Aqsa Mosque to pave the way for settlers to perform rituals in its courtyards.
 
The commission said in a statement that the occupation troops sealed the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem and turned the holy city into a closed area.
 
During a meeting with the Palestinian President in Amman, King Abdullah of Jordan said Sunday that the international community must take immediate measures to protect the holy sites from unilateral moves on Israel’s part.
 
According to him, Israel’s moves seek to alter occupied Jerusalem’s identity and constitute a dangerous provocation that threatens all efforts invested in achieving regional peace.
 
Jordan’s official news agency, Petra, reported that the Jordanian king warned against “the dangerous consequences of provocative Israeli moves and acts of aggression against the al-Aqsa Mosque – moves with Jordan condemns.”
 
Moreover, the council of trade unions in Jordan expressed dismay at the UN Security Council and the Arab League for not holding emergency meetings to discuss the latest Israeli escalation in the holy city.
 
The council called on the Arab leaders to convene an emergency meeting to explore every avenue to face the new Israeli war, and also urged the member countries of the organization of the Islamic conference to sever their relations with Israel.