PLO official: Israel is trying to “encircle Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque with settlement construction and synagogues” in order to ensure “the total Judaization” of the city
“PLO Executive Committee member and Head of the Department for Jerusalem Affairs [Ahmed Qurei], …in a press release yesterday (Friday) [Aug. 25, 2017], condemned the fact that 300 settlers inaugurated the synagogue in the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood (i.e., Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem) in the Abu Nab building (i.e., Abu Nab was the Arab family illegally squatting in the synagogue; see note below), which they took control of in 2015… He described this as a real danger that constitutes a declared violation, which joins the Israeli occupation government’s daily violations against Jerusalem… Qurei continued: ‘The Israeli occupation government has been diligently working for a while to encircle Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque with settlement construction and synagogues, in order to establish a new fact on the ground: the total Judaization of the holy city [of Jerusalem].’”
Silwan synagogue – the Ohel Shlomo Synagogue – A historical Yemenite synagogue in the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem, which was destroyed after the British expelled the Yemenite Jewish residents of the neighborhood in the 1930s amid Arab riots. In 2015, the Jerusalem District Court evicted an Arab family that was living in the building, and members of the Jewish Ateret Cohanim organization moved in. The synagogue is now being restored (2017).
Israeli Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel and Israeli Parliament Member Mordhay Yogev were present at a Torah dedication ceremony at the synagogue, on Aug. 24, 2017.
Silwan synagogue – the Ohel Shlomo Synagogue – A historical Yemenite synagogue in the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem, which was destroyed after the British expelled the Yemenite Jewish residents of the neighborhood in the 1930s amid Arab riots. In 2015, the Jerusalem District Court evicted an Arab family that was living in the building, and members of the Jewish Ateret Cohanim organization moved in. The synagogue is now being restored (2017).
Israeli Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel and Israeli Parliament Member Mordhay Yogev were present at a Torah dedication ceremony at the synagogue, on Aug. 24, 2017.