PA blames Jews for the fire in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969
Headline: “Khouri calls to mobilize all efforts to save the first direction of [Muslim] prayer from the danger of Judaization and division”
“PLO Executive Committee member [and Chairman of the Palestine National Fund (i.e., declared a terror organization by Israel; see note below)] Ramzi Khouri called to mobilize all efforts to save the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the first direction of [Muslim] prayer and the third holiest mosque, from the projects and plans of Judaization that the Israeli occupation government and extremist settler and religious Jewish groups are carrying out.
In a statement yesterday [Aug. 20, 2023], Khouri said that the crime of burning the Al-Aqsa Mosque 54 years ago by extremist Michael Rohan (i.e., an Australian Christian with a mental health disorder) on Aug. 21, 1969, has continued to this very day…
On this date in 1969 an extremist Jewish terrorist with Australian citizenship named Michael Denis [Rohan] (sic., Rohan was not Jewish) broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and deliberately set the eastern part of the mosque on fire…
Our people succeeded at the time in saving what remained of the Al-Aqsa Mosque before the flames completely destroyed it. Fire trucks from Hebron, Bethlehem, and various areas in the West Bank… hurried to save the Al-Aqsa Mosque, even though the Israeli occupation authorities attempted to stop them, and even though they cut off the flow of water to the area around the mosque on the day of the arson (sic., Israeli firefighters – who eventually put out the fire and not Palestinians – arrived within minutes but rioting Muslims interfered with their work and broke the only fire hydrant at the site; PMW found no evidence for claims that Israel cut off the water). Likewise, fire trucks of the occupation’s Jerusalem Municipality were deliberately late so as not to participate in putting out the fire.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 21, 2023]
Ramzi Khouri also serves as chairman of the PA Presidential Committee for Church Affairs.
PNF declared terror organization by Liberman: Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman declared the Palestine National Fund of the PLO a terror organization on March 16, 2017. The fund manages financial aid received by the PLO from different sources. The Israeli Ministry of Defense declare the fund a terror organization due to the fund's "massive support for elements responsible for committing severe acts of terrorism against Israel," and stated that the fund serves "as a significant financial pipeline for tens of millions of shekels that are transferred on a monthly basis to security prisoners held in Israel for committing acts of terrorism and to members of their families," and that "the fund also supports family members of terrorists who were wounded and killed while perpetrating acts of terrorism against Israel." It also stated that "the necessary steps will be taken, in Israel and abroad, to seize and forfeit the property and money belonging to the fund.”
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA uses the Palestine National Fund to transfer money for terrorist salaries to the PLO.