Aqsa Mosque guards thwart sneaking attempt by armed Israeli settler

Informed sources revealed that the guards of the Aqsa Mosque were able at dawn Sunday to catch an armed Israeli settler trying to sneak into the courtyards of the Mosque. He was believed to have intentions to commit a massacre in the ranks of Palestinian worshipers.

The sources told the reporter of the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the guards, who are working round the clock to foil any Israeli malicious plans against the holy Mosque, succeeded in stopping the armed settler as he was using the stairs of a building adjacent to the Mosque.

The sources added that the Israeli police received the settler and took him to an unknown destination without officially revealing his intentions so far, noting that it was obvious from his attempt to creep into the Mosque that he was intending to massacre worshipers in a way similar to the mass killing carried out by Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein in 1994 in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil.

For his part, Sheikh Ra’ed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied lands, stated Saturday that he has full right to enter the Aqsa Mosque, praying in it, and defending it against Judaization attempts.

“The solution to all problems is the removal of the occupation from the city of Jerusalem and I will be striving for that and I am not afraid of any charge leveled against me; I already said it before the court judge: I do not recognize any law set by the occupation,” the Palestinian leader said during a meeting of the higher follow-up committee for Arab citizens in the 1948 occupied lands.

“All words uttered by the inspector general of the police are false and he himself has no value; besides, Silvan Shalom (the Israeli deputy premier) himself is trying to ignite Jerusalem and the region through making statements that encourage racism,” he added.

The Palestinian leader called during the meeting on the higher follow-up committee to issue an official historical document documenting the events rampant in Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque and then send it to all concerned institutions all over the world especially in the Arab and Muslim worlds.