Abbas: “We are all Murabitin (i.e., those who carry out Ribat) along with the children of Jerusalem”
Official PA TV broadcast a repeat of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ speech on the 10th anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “The Israeli leadership is making a big mistake if it thinks history is reversible and that they can establish facts on the ground and divide the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] according to place and time, as they did in the past at the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron – a step they will yet retract. With their actions, they are leading the region and the world into a destructive religious war. Neither the Muslim nor the Christian world will ever accept the Israeli claims that Jerusalem belongs to them. No one, [neither] Muslims nor Christians, will accept that Jerusalem be [anything] but the capital of the State of Palestine, and we will accept no other claims, whatever they may be. Jerusalem is our capital, and we will not give it up. Jerusalem, which was conquered in 1967, is our Jerusalem and our capital, and we will protect it and defend its holy places. We are all Murabitin (i.e., those who carry out Ribat, religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic) along with the children of Jerusalem.”
Notes: The physical division and division according to time 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.
Division of the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) – On Feb. 25, 1994, Israeli 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. Following the massacre, 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.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “The Israeli leadership is making a big mistake if it thinks history is reversible and that they can establish facts on the ground and divide the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] according to place and time, as they did in the past at the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron – a step they will yet retract. With their actions, they are leading the region and the world into a destructive religious war. Neither the Muslim nor the Christian world will ever accept the Israeli claims that Jerusalem belongs to them. No one, [neither] Muslims nor Christians, will accept that Jerusalem be [anything] but the capital of the State of Palestine, and we will accept no other claims, whatever they may be. Jerusalem is our capital, and we will not give it up. Jerusalem, which was conquered in 1967, is our Jerusalem and our capital, and we will protect it and defend its holy places. We are all Murabitin (i.e., those who carry out Ribat, religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic) along with the children of Jerusalem.”
Notes: The physical division and division according to time 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.
Division of the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) – On Feb. 25, 1994, Israeli 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. Following the massacre, 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.
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