Israeli police have lifted a ban on the entry of Israeli settlers into occupied East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque complex after a 10-day hiatus, Israeli media reported.
According to Israeli public radio, police will now allow Jewish settlers to resume ‘visiting’ the Muslim religious site “starting next week”.
The visits come despite the objections of the Jordan-run Authority for Islamic Endowments, which is responsible for overseeing Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites.
Israeli Police Lift Ban on Settler Forays Into Al-Aqsa
https://t.co/f9AsD30fN5 pic.twitter.com/Cw6q1MSh3i— Middle East Observer (@MEOorg) July 9, 2016
During the last week of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr (the three-day holiday following the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan), police had prohibited Jewish settlers — and all non-Muslim visitors — from entering the site.
The decision was taken late last month after a large number of settlers entered the Al-Aqsa compound under police protection, triggering three days of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian Muslim worshippers.
In recent years, groups of extremist Jewish settlers, under heavy police protection, have staged assaults in the mosque complex with increasing frequency and in growing numbers.
Some extremist Jewish groups have called for the demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to make way for a Jewish temple.
(MEMO, PC)
