PA accuses Israel of promoting “invasions of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to... Judaize the holy city [of Jerusalem],” calls on Palestinians, incl. those “in the Palestinian Interior occupied in 1948” to carry out Ribat
Headline: “The [PA] government demanded that Hamas commit to the [PA] president’s plan, and announced its readiness to take control of the government ministries in Gaza”
“In its weekly meeting held yesterday [April 18, 2017] in the Jenin district… the [PA] government condemned the racist policy of oppression that is being implemented against the worshippers and those carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic), men and women alike, in addition to preventing them from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque and praying there. This is at a time when the Israeli government is scheming, providing official cover, and implementing a policy of incitement that calls on the settlers to make daily and unprecedented broad invasions of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to establish a new status quo, whose goal is to Judaize the holy city [of Jerusalem] and erase its Arab and Islamic characteristics. The government referenced the danger in the occupation government’s insistence on turning the conflict into a religious conflict, which will escalate the situation, place the city in true danger, and constitute a crude challenge and declaration of war against the Muslims, their holy sites, and the entire Islamic world. The government called on the guards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its gatekeepers, on all of the worshippers and the Jerusalem civilians, and on our people in the Palestinian Interior occupied in 1948 (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel) to visit and carry out Ribat at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its pure plazas, and to continue to come to it in order to defend it from the plots of the extremist Jewish groups.”
The PA and its leaders consider all of the Temple Mount an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore they view any presence of Jews on the mount as an “invasion.” It should be noted that Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock.
“In its weekly meeting held yesterday [April 18, 2017] in the Jenin district… the [PA] government condemned the racist policy of oppression that is being implemented against the worshippers and those carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic), men and women alike, in addition to preventing them from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque and praying there. This is at a time when the Israeli government is scheming, providing official cover, and implementing a policy of incitement that calls on the settlers to make daily and unprecedented broad invasions of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to establish a new status quo, whose goal is to Judaize the holy city [of Jerusalem] and erase its Arab and Islamic characteristics. The government referenced the danger in the occupation government’s insistence on turning the conflict into a religious conflict, which will escalate the situation, place the city in true danger, and constitute a crude challenge and declaration of war against the Muslims, their holy sites, and the entire Islamic world. The government called on the guards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its gatekeepers, on all of the worshippers and the Jerusalem civilians, and on our people in the Palestinian Interior occupied in 1948 (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel) to visit and carry out Ribat at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its pure plazas, and to continue to come to it in order to defend it from the plots of the extremist Jewish groups.”
The PA and its leaders consider all of the Temple Mount an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore they view any presence of Jews on the mount as an “invasion.” It should be noted that Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock.