Jewish worshippers wrapped in prayer shawls participate in the priestly blessing prayer on the holiday of Passover, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City
The Jerusalem Municipality has approved a plan to expand the mixed-gender prayer area of Jerusalem’s Western Wall, Israeli daily Haaretz reported Monday.
The plan was approved by municipal officials following pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Haaretz, the scheme won approval under a special regulation that created a fast-track process authorizing the municipal engineer to approve work to make a site handicapped-accessible.
The plan also includes expansion of the mixed-gender prayer area and its entrance.
The mixed-gender prayer area is inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where male and female Jews perform rituals together, a move opposed by Ultra-Orthodox Jews.
The expansion plan quickly invited condemnations from the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, a Jordan-run organization responsible for overseeing the city's Islamic sites.
“This is a blatant attack on the endowment of Muslims,” it said in a statement, going on to call on UNESCO to intervene to stop Israeli Judaization measures in the area.
“This proves that these Judaization projects…are meant to drastically change the religious and historical status quo in Jerusalem,” it warned.
For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site after Mecca and Medina. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the "Temple Mount", claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem -- in which the Al-Aqsa is located -- during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, annexing the entire city 13 years later in a move never recognized by the international community.
In late 2000, a visit to Al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon sparked a years-long popular uprising against Israel’s decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians lost their lives.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned Israeli plans to build more than 2,100 settlement units across the occupied West Bank.“The Israeli settlement policy is illegal under international law and is a brazen violation of UN resolutions and aggression on rights of the Palestinian people,” the OIC said in a statement on Sunday.The umbrella group called on the international community “to take decisive measures to put an end to the Israeli settlement policy, which risks undermining the two-state solution”.On Tuesday, Israel announced plans to build 2,100 new settlement homes in the West Bank.According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government’s approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land to be illegal.Israel’s continued policy of unbridled settlement building is seen as the main obstacle to resuming Palestine-Israel peace talks, which broke down in 2014.
OIC slams Israeli plans to build new settlements
Israeli police rounded up seven Palestinians, including a girl, in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, according to a local NGO.Police forces raided a number of houses in the town of Isawiya and arrested a number of people there, Amjad Abu Asab, head of a local committee tasked with following up affairs of Palestinian detainees, said.No details were available about the identity of the detainees.According to local residents, a 15-year-old girl was arrested by Israeli forces shortly after leaving East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque.A Palestinian youth was also detained during an Israeli raid in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, according to Mohamed al-Sadeq, the director of the Jerusalem Media Center.There was no comment from the Israeli police on the report.According to Palestinian figures, some 6,500 Palestinians are currently languishing in Israeli prisons, including scores of women, roughly 350 minors, and at least six members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.Israel’s Lieberman dismisses talk of truce with HamasIsraeli army concludes war-games along 'northern front'Israeli gov’t asked to ‘justify’ Aqsa Jewish prayer banTurkey condemns Israel’s approval of new settlementsUK condemns Israeli plans for new West Bank units
Israeli police arrest seven Palestinians in Jerusalem
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman would not support a ceasefire with Hamas amid ongoing speculation that a truce is imminent, Israeli media reported Friday. According to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Lieberman made the assertion at a meeting with local officials in southern Israel near the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. “I am not involved in the arrangement,” Lieberman was quoted as saying in reference to persistent rumors of a looming ceasefire. “Hamas is a terrorist organization committed to Israel’s destruction,” he said. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about.” “In recent days, we have seen that Hamas is in total control of what goes on here [i.e., along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone],” he added.Lieberman went on to assert that violence along the buffer zone had recently decreased “almost to zero”. “If there is calm this Friday [along the buffer zone], the [Gaza-Israel Kerem Shalom] border crossing will remain open,” he said. “If there’s no calm, it will be closed.”The defense minister added: “If we decide that we have no choice but to launch a military operation [against Gaza], we will do what needs to be done.”In recent weeks, Palestinian activists in Gaza have been flying flaming kites and balloons over southern Israel as part of ongoing rallies along the buffer zone.According to Israeli officials, the improvised aerial weapons have caused a number of fires inside Israeli territory resulting in significant material damage but no deaths or injuries.Since the Gaza rallies began on Mar. 30, more than 170 Palestinian protesters have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.In a related development Friday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem said the Gaza rallies were set to continue “with a view to confirming our people’s determination to achieve their goals”.Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.They also demand an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
Israel’s Lieberman dismisses talk of truce with Hamas
Israel has wrapped up a week-long military drill involving simulated combat scenarios along its borders with Lebanon and Syria, a military spokesman said Friday.“The Golani Brigade conducted a wide-ranging exercise this week involving combat simulations on the northern front,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement.According to Adraee, the maneuvers -- which ended Thursday evening -- come as part of a series of military drills aimed at bolstering the army’s overall combat-readiness.The spokesman added that the just-concluded exercise had simulated combat situations involving Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, with which Israel fought a major conflict in 2006.The Israeli army frequently conducts drills near the borders of Lebanon, Syria and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.Israeli gov’t asked to ‘justify’ Aqsa Jewish prayer banTurkey condemns Israel’s approval of new settlements
Israeli army concludes war-games along 'northern front'
Israel’s Supreme Court has asked the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “justify” a longstanding ban on Jewish prayer inside East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.Israeli daily Maariv reported on Friday that the court -- Israel’s highest judicial authority -- had given the government 60 days to provide a reason why Jews were forbidden from praying at the flashpoint holy site.The move reportedly comes in response to a petition lodged with the court by the Israeli Center for the Promotion of Democracy and Human Rights, an NGO that objects to what it describes as “government restrictions on non-Muslims” at the mosque complex.“Israeli police… use their authority to apply explicitly discriminatory policies [against Jewish worshippers] that violate the freedom of worship,” the petition reads.“The ban on non-Muslim visitors to the Temple Mount [i.e., the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex]… has remained in place for decades,” the NGO adds.It remains unclear whether the court’s request will pave the way for a legal decision allowing Jews to pray at the mosque complex.Since 2003, the Israeli authorities have allowed Jewish settlers to enter Al-Aqsa in increasing numbers while forbidding them from praying inside the site.For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site after Mecca and Medina. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the "Temple Mount", claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.Israel occupied East Jerusalem -- in which the Al-Aqsa is located -- during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, annexing the entire city 13 years later in a move never recognized by the international community.In late 2000, a visit to Al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon sparked a years-long popular uprising against Israel’s decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians lost their lives.100,000 Muslims perform Eid prayers at J'lem's Al-AqsaIsrael reopens Al Aqsa mosque after closure
Israeli gov’t asked to ‘justify’ Aqsa Jewish prayer ban