Israeli minister on provocative visit to Aqsa

Avi Dichter, the Israeli internal security minister, on Tuesday toured the holy Aqsa Mosque in a provocative visit amidst tight security measures.

The visit coincided with the initiation of the so-called final status talks between the PA leadership in Ramallah and the Israeli occupation authority, and the IOF massacre in Gaza that left 19 Palestinians killed and 50 others injured.

Dichter toured the plazas of the Haram Al-Sharif before entering the Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The Islamic Awkaf department in the occupied city of Jerusalem said that the minister entered the Aqsa compound through the Magharba gate, which the IOA confiscated its keys ever since its occupation of the holy city in 1967, without informing the department.

Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, the Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, said that the Aqsa Mosque is wholly Islamic and is not open for a contest for the Israeli ministers.

Dichter”s visit lures other “Zionist settlers” into storming the Aqsa, Hussein said in a press statement, and held the occupation government responsible for consequences of such provocative visits and the media coverage in all Hebrew papers.