Abbas advisor: Israel “is planning to carry out a massacre or to burn the [Al-Aqsa] Mosque”
Official PA TV program Topic of the Day hosted Ahmed Al-Ruweidi, advisor to Abbas on Jerusalem Affairs:
“Israel wants to make some incident happen, and on the basis of this incident it will divide [the Al-Aqsa Mosque] according to place. It is planning to carry out a massacre or to burn the Mosque – this is what we saw at the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron). It only divided the Ibrahimi Mosque after the Hebron massacre (i.e., when an Israeli extremist gunned down Muslims who were praying in the mosque, see note below).”
Notes: The physical division and division according to time and place refers to a proposed law (May 2013) being reviewed in Israeli Parliament that would allow for both Jews and Muslims to pray on the Temple Mount. The law seeks to implement separate prayer times for Muslims and Jews at the site.
Cave of the Patriarchs massacre: On Feb. 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a member of an Israeli far-right movement, opened fire on Muslims praying inside the Ibrahimi Mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 29 and wounding 125. Goldstein’s attack was widely condemned in Israel and by Jewish communities in the diaspora; Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin condemned Goldstein’s action, calling it “a loathsome, criminal act of murder” and described Goldstein as “a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism.” Rabin also noted that, contrary to what is implied above, Goldstein had acted alone. In addition to verbal condemnation, the Israeli government took concrete steps to prevent similar attacks from occurring, by dividing the Mosque into Muslim and Jewish sections, imposing administrative detentions on several individuals and revoking their weapons permits, and by designating several extremist movements, including Goldstein’s, as illegal terrorist groups. In 1998, Israel passed a law outlawing monuments to honor terrorists, and dismantled the memorial to Goldstein which had been erected by his supporters.
“Israel wants to make some incident happen, and on the basis of this incident it will divide [the Al-Aqsa Mosque] according to place. It is planning to carry out a massacre or to burn the Mosque – this is what we saw at the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron). It only divided the Ibrahimi Mosque after the Hebron massacre (i.e., when an Israeli extremist gunned down Muslims who were praying in the mosque, see note below).”
Notes: The physical division and division according to time and place refers to a proposed law (May 2013) being reviewed in Israeli Parliament that would allow for both Jews and Muslims to pray on the Temple Mount. The law seeks to implement separate prayer times for Muslims and Jews at the site.
Cave of the Patriarchs massacre: On Feb. 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a member of an Israeli far-right movement, opened fire on Muslims praying inside the Ibrahimi Mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 29 and wounding 125. Goldstein’s attack was widely condemned in Israel and by Jewish communities in the diaspora; Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin condemned Goldstein’s action, calling it “a loathsome, criminal act of murder” and described Goldstein as “a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism.” Rabin also noted that, contrary to what is implied above, Goldstein had acted alone. In addition to verbal condemnation, the Israeli government took concrete steps to prevent similar attacks from occurring, by dividing the Mosque into Muslim and Jewish sections, imposing administrative detentions on several individuals and revoking their weapons permits, and by designating several extremist movements, including Goldstein’s, as illegal terrorist groups. In 1998, Israel passed a law outlawing monuments to honor terrorists, and dismantled the memorial to Goldstein which had been erected by his supporters.