Fatah official: Netanyahu visit to Hebron and Cave of the Patriarchs is a "crime" and a "break-in"
Official PA TV program Talk of the Hour, on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Hebron, hosting Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary Fayez Abu Aita
Official PA TV host: “From a political perspective, the break-in of Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] from the extremist right-wing government into the Ibrahimi Mosque(i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) last night [Sept. 4, 2019] occurred after the break-in into it by [Israeli] President of the occupation state [Reuven Rivlin] in the afternoon in order to harm the uniqueness of the Palestinian cause in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.”
Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary Fayez Abu Aita: “The break-in into the Ibrahimi Mosque by Rivlin and Netanyahu, who are the Israeli president and prime minister- I think we are talking about the head of the Israeli pyramid, and this clearly means that Israel is heading towards more extremism.I think that this crime against the Palestinian holy sites is a step too far by this extremist right-wing government, which Benjamin Netanyahu is leading in the direction of more violence and extremism in the region… This visit in some ways reminds us of the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin- [then Israeli opposition leader] Ariel Sharon, his break-in into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 2000-”
Host: “In 2000.”
Fayez Abu Aita: “-in 2000, following which an explosion occurred that is known among the Palestinians as the second Intifada, the Al-Aqsa Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered)… Jerusalem and the holy sites are a red line, as it is absolutely forbidden to harm these holy sites that are considered a historical, religious, national, and cultural heritage of the Palestinian people. The Ibrahimi Mosque is a holy site in the eyes of the Palestinian people, and it is one of the holy sites that the Palestinian people is proud of and honors, and they have their sanctity, and of course the Al-Aqsa Mosque too. For this reason, harming these religious symbols is completely inadmissible and unacceptable, and I think it will have consequences and results… This right-wing government’s persistence on escalation– and I consider this a grave escalation, an arbitrary violation, and a new crime, which is added to the series of crimes that this extremist right-wing government is committing against the Palestinian people. Will this pass in silence? We say clearly that it will not pass in silence.”