Khatib: Israel’s settlement activity in Jerusalem a blow to the PA negotiator

Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib, the deputy head of the Islamic Movement in the Palestinian lands occupied in 1948, considered Israel”s ongoing settlement activities in occupied Jerusalem and its attempts to destroy the Aqsa Mosque is a blow to the PA negotiation team in light of what was agreed upon during the Annapolis conference. 

Sheikh Khatib explained in an interview with Palestine newspaper published on Sunday that the accelerating excavations under the Aqsa Mosque, the building of thousands of settlement outposts and the harassment against the Palestinians in Jerusalem among other things indicate that Israel pays no attention at all to the PA leadership and its negotiators and just tries to gain some time to impose a fait accompli in Jerusalem.

Sheikh Khatib underlined that the fissure that appeared in the Aqsa Mosque”s yards near the manuscripts library “confirms what we had said during the past years that the IOA did not stop its excavations for one moment under the Mosque”.

The Sheikh warned that the IOA used to deny any excavations under the Aqsa Mosque, but today it publishes its infringements openly and allows journalists to report about them in order to create a fait accompli and prepare the public opinion to accept the presence of these tunnels as a prelude to building a synagogue under the Aqsa Mosque and finally the alleged third temple.