19.08.09 - 09:36

Jerusalem / Maisa Abu Ghazaleh for PNN – Israeli police broke the locks on one of the gates of Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem’s Old City.

The number of Israeli assaults, by both settlers and military, often rises during the month of Ramadan. Tuesday’s incident took place in front of guards for the Muslim holy site who prevented the Israeli police from replacing the original lock with one to which they held the key.

One of the guards at the mosque said Wednesday that yesterday while working he saw Israeli police officers using iron cutters to break the door locks and replace with a lock of their own. He informed the Waqf, the Department of Religious Affairs.

Director of the Waqf, Sheikh Azzam Al Khatib, arrived immediately on the scene and prevented the Israelis from replacing the lock they had just destroyed with one of their own. Noon prayers were just ending and a number of worshippers had gathered as well.

Waqf Chairman Sheikh Abdul Azim Salhab denounced the latest Israeli violation of the Islamic sanctity, he said. “What happened is an attack on the rights of Muslims and Al Aqsa Mosque, the Department of Waqf, and Islamic sovereignty in the management of the mosque.”

Sheikh Khatib said, “What happened is a dangerous precedent. What was done by the police was an act of serious prejudice to the sanctity of the blessed Al Aqsa Mosque, and was unwarranted. This has not occurred, the seizing of the key to the door of Moroccans, since 1967.”

President of the Supreme Islamic Conference, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, said that the Israelis are tightening control of the mosque in order to eventually completely take over its management.