The head of the Turkish Presidency for Religious Affairs Mehmet Gormez said on Tuesday that Al-Aqsa’s temporal and spatial division is unacceptable. “We, as Muslims, do not accept the temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa,” said Gormez at Anadolu Agency’s Editor’s Desk.Israeli security forces had stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sept. 13, using rubber bullets, teargas and stun grenades to disperse Muslim worshippers near the mosque for three days, which at the time drew considerable international outcry. Major Palestinian figures and resistance factions warned that Israel was working on the spatial and temporal division of al-Aqsa Mosque (between Muslims and Jews). Mr Gormez has echoed sentiments of over one billion Muslims on the issue of Al-Aqsa, which is the third holiest place for believers after Makkah Mukarramah and Madina Munawwara. The future of Al-Quds is not an issue just for Palestinians, who are struggling since long for its liberation, but also a spiritual concern for Muslims all over the world. Israel has been making efforts since long to perpetuate its illegal occupation of the Al-Quds. It is rightly believed that the current violence against Palestinian worshippers at al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem is an extension of the Zionist ambition. Israeli government leaders have repeatedly said they do not want changes at the al-Aqsa Mosque but the government is also accused of funding groups advocating major changes as to who can pray at the sacred and sensitive site in Jerusalem. Israel’s new Minister of Internal Security, Gilad Erdan, is repressing any Palestinian in Jerusalem who dares challenge newIsraeli rules regarding Muslim access to al-Aqsa. Scores of Palestinians have been shot, beaten and many more arrested in recent days as they have attempted to confront Israeli police who escort Jewish extremists on their provocative ‘tours’ of the Muslim holy site. This is part of the overall strategy of the Jewish state aimed at religious, political and economic strangulation of Palestinians. We may warn Israel as well as leaders of the civilized world that there could be no peace in the Middle East sans permanent and just settlement of the Palestinian issue and liberation of Al-Quds. We may also say that Al-Aqsa is not a cake to be divided between the two parties.
pk.shafaqna.com
