Palestinian officials: “Judaizing” Festival of Lights in Jerusalem’s Old City is part of a “plan to erase its Arab, Islamic, and Christian nature, and to give an impression that the city is Jewish”
Headline: “Putting out Jerusalem’s light”
“Jerusalem sank into the darkness of the Judaizing Festival of ‘Lights’ (i.e., the Jerusalem Festival of Light) that the Jerusalem Municipality organized over the past week… Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) representative Attorney Ahmed Al-Ruweidi said that ‘What is happening in Jerusalem comes as part of a plan to erase its Arab, Islamic, and Christian nature, and to give an impression that the city is Jewish. The “Judaizing” Festival of “Lights” in Jerusalem, which the occupation municipality is holding for the 10th consecutive year (s ic., 9th year), comes as part of a number of Israeli projects, including the “Keidar” settlement project to place an iron fence around parts of the Gate of Mercy cemetery and isolate approximately 40% of the cemetery (a pparently refers to illegal expansion of the cemetery into national park land; see note below –Ed.), the establishment of a cable car in order to reach the Al-Aqsa Mosque (sic., the cable car project is to go up to the Dung Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City), to Judaize the Damascus Gate, turn it into a military camp, and spread three Israeli police posts in order to give the foreign visitors to Jerusalem an impression that it is a Jewish city’… [PA] Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh, and preacher at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Muhammad Hussein considered the ‘Judaizing’ Festival of ‘Lights’ as ‘a historical, cultural, and heritage injustice [against] the sites and residents of Jerusalem, and particularly as the festival is taking place at the most important gate of the Old City.’”
The article includes a picture from the Jerusalem Festival of Light showing the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City lit up in a display featuring the word “Love” in various languages.
Several areas adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem were declared a national park by Israel in 1974, and Palestinians have attempted to illegally expand the Muslim Gate of Mercy cemetery - located outside the eastern wall of the Old City - into the Jerusalem Walls National Park territory.
“Jerusalem sank into the darkness of the Judaizing Festival of ‘Lights’ (i.e., the Jerusalem Festival of Light) that the Jerusalem Municipality organized over the past week… Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) representative Attorney Ahmed Al-Ruweidi said that ‘What is happening in Jerusalem comes as part of a plan to erase its Arab, Islamic, and Christian nature, and to give an impression that the city is Jewish. The “Judaizing” Festival of “Lights” in Jerusalem, which the occupation municipality is holding for the 10th consecutive year (s ic., 9th year), comes as part of a number of Israeli projects, including the “Keidar” settlement project to place an iron fence around parts of the Gate of Mercy cemetery and isolate approximately 40% of the cemetery (a pparently refers to illegal expansion of the cemetery into national park land; see note below –Ed.), the establishment of a cable car in order to reach the Al-Aqsa Mosque (sic., the cable car project is to go up to the Dung Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City), to Judaize the Damascus Gate, turn it into a military camp, and spread three Israeli police posts in order to give the foreign visitors to Jerusalem an impression that it is a Jewish city’… [PA] Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh, and preacher at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Muhammad Hussein considered the ‘Judaizing’ Festival of ‘Lights’ as ‘a historical, cultural, and heritage injustice [against] the sites and residents of Jerusalem, and particularly as the festival is taking place at the most important gate of the Old City.’”
The article includes a picture from the Jerusalem Festival of Light showing the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City lit up in a display featuring the word “Love” in various languages.
Several areas adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem were declared a national park by Israel in 1974, and Palestinians have attempted to illegally expand the Muslim Gate of Mercy cemetery - located outside the eastern wall of the Old City - into the Jerusalem Walls National Park territory.