Jews visiting the Temple Mount is “forbidden religiously,” says Al-Aqsa Mosque director on PA TV
Official PA TV program Good Morning Jerusalem
Official PA TV host: “Last Saturday [March 27, 2021], the so-called Jewish holiday of Passover began… Throughout the week there were increased break-ins [into the Al-Aqsa Mosque] by the settler gangs under tight protection from the occupation police, which is working to dry up the Islamic presence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in parallel to facilitating for the settlers to do as they see fit at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. What is your response to the attempts to impose facts, and to the blow to the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque?”
Director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani: “We view this seriously, particularly last week when the Al-Aqsa Mosque was broken into by the extremist associations under the protection of the occupation police… who increased deployment inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and around the Old City [of Jerusalem],and imposed a siege around the Al-Aqsa Mosque… so that the Al-Aqsa Mosque would be empty of Muslim worshippers during the presence of these people and during their break-in into the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas. There were large numbers,there were at least 60 extremists in every group; over the course of last week more than 2,380 extremists broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque… Of course, this is open appropriation that was conveyed to the entire world – both with Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) prayers, not honoring the sanctity of the site, and defiling the site – through these provocations and the behavior of these people…
The Islamic Waqf needs Arab and Islamic support to defend the Islamicness and Arabness of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to put an end to these violations that are planned by the occupation government at the highest levels…
The occupation wants to turn this sight into something routine at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but we say this sight is unusual, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an exclusive right of the Muslims, and it will not accept division and will not accept partnership. The mosque, with all its 144 dunams (i.e., 144,000 square meters) of territory, belongs to all the Muslims, including that which is underground and aboveground until the highest heavens, and this is according to a divine decree…
[In Sura 17 of the Quran] Allah eternalizes the connection between [the Al-Aqsa Mosque] and the Great Mosque [of Mecca]. And there is no difference between Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in terms of the Muslims. Our connection to it is a religious-faith connection, and these acts are forbidden religiously, not just politically.”
[Official PA TV, Good Morning Jerusalem, April 2, 2021]