PA Foreign Ministry condemns Israeli minister's call to allow Jews to pray on the "alleged" Temple Mount; warns of “Israeli plans" to destroy Al-Aqsa
Headline: "[PA Ministry of] Foreign Affairs: Erdan must be tried for his crimes and plot against the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque"
"[PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned in the harshest terms the statements of the occupation government’s [Israeli] Minister of 'Public Security' Gilad Erdan, who called to change the 'status quo' at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (see note below –Ed.).
The ministry pointed out in its statement today, Tuesday [Aug. 13, 2019] that Erdan has adopted the calls and demands of the alleged 'Temple' organizations to turn the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its plazas into [a place with which] they can do as they please from all of the gates and at all times under the pretext of 'holding their religious ceremonies and prayer there.'
The ministry condemned the logic of bullying and the law of the jungle expressed by Erdan when he acknowledged his responsibility for the use of force on the first day of the [Eid Al-Adha] holiday (i.e., the Sacrifice Feast) against the Muslim worshippers and their removal by force (Israel responded to Muslim riots to bar Jews from entering the Temple Mount on Tisha B'Av, which fell on the same day; see note below –Ed.) in order to allow the Jewish settlers and extremists to break into the Al-Aqsa Mosque…
The ministry has warned for a long time about the fact of the Israeli plans against the Al-Aqsa Mosque… which is threatened with destruction or physical division in the same way it has already actually been divided by time (see note below –Ed.) – and the Muslims will be prevented from entering it or even praying at it."
The mention of Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan’s statements refer to comments he made in an interview with Radio 90FM on Aug. 13, 2019, in which he said: “I think that there is an injustice in the status quo that has existed [on the Temple Mount] since 1967, and that it is necessary to work to change it so that Jews in the future will be able God willing to also pray on the Temple Mount, which is the holiest site for the Jewish people and the third most significant site in Islam.”