Saturday 17 October 2009

Aqsa preacher champions steadfastness in face of IOA schemes

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[ 17/10/2009 - 08:23 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The preacher of the Aqsa Mosque asked the Friday congregation in the holy Aqsa Mosque to remain steadfast and never abandon the holy site.

Sheikh Yousef Abu Snene described the Israeli occupation authority's (IOA) ban on entry of men under 50 into the Aqsa Mosque as an "oppressive" act that is made with the hope to eventually lead to abandonment of the Mosque and its destruction.

He emphasized, however, that the IOA policy of imposing de facto conditions would ultimately fail, adding that the daily confiscation of land, detention, construction of settlement, isolation, opening tunnels and closing roads would not persist.

The Sheikh described as a "shame" the Arab rulers' silence towards what was going on against the holy Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli security blocked tens of young Palestinian worshipers from accessing the holy site to offer their prayers while others were allowed only after delivering their IDs to those security men at the gates of the Mosque and were given numbers to restore their IDs after completion of the prayers.

For his part, Hamas MP Ahmed Abu Halabia, who is the rapporteur of the Jerusalem committee in the Palestinian legislative council, said in a speech on Thursday that the IOA was launching a systematic and programmed attack on occupied Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque.

He described the Zionist offensive against the Mosque, during a conference for the international Quds institution in Gaza, as "rabid".

The MP charged Arab countries with collusion with the IOA, adding that such collusion is an assistant factor in wiping out the identity of occupied Jerusalem.

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