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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israeli forces storm al-Aqsa Mosque for second time in 48 hours</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Lubna Masarwa ,
Huthifa Fayyad - April 17, 2022<br></div>
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<div><p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israeli</a>
forces stormed al-Aqsa Mosque early on Sunday, assaulting and
blockading Muslim worshippers inside prayer halls while clearing the way
for Israeli settlers to enter the occupied East Jerusalem holy site.</p>
<p>At around 7am local time, hundreds of special forces entered the mosque's courtyard and began striking <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinians</a> observing <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/ramadan-when-does-it-start-everything-you-need-know" target="_blank">Ramadan </a>with batons in a bid to force them out. There were also reports of stun grenades being deployed.</p>
<p>In the silver-domed Qibli prayer hall, Israeli forces fired
teargas at worshippers and blocked them indoors for almost four hours.
Dozens of people were trapped inside and were not able to evacuate those
who sustained minor injuries. </p>
<p>The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its medics were also prevented from entering the mosque to provide first aid.</p>
<div><blockquote><div dir="ltr" lang="en"><p>Israeli forces besieged al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday.</p><p>Palestinian
worshippers inside the southern Qibli prayer hall and the central Dome
of the Rock were locked in by Israeli police who tried to empty the
mosque’s courtyards. <a href="https://t.co/CxDtnCVmqZ" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/CxDtnCVmqZ</a></p></div>— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1515633625181609990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">April 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
</div>
<p>People trapped inside the Qibli hall pleaded for help using
loudspeakers, urging Palestinians to come and protect the mosque.
Israeli forces reportedly tried to access the audio room afterwards to
cut off the sound system, which was later repaired by the mosque's
volunteers. </p>
<p>Inside the Dome of the Rock hall at the centre of the mosque's
complex, female worshippers were also blocked in and not allowed to
leave in a similar manner. </p>
<p>"We wanted to go outside to protect al-Aqsa but the police closed the
doors on us," Sahar Natsha, a Palestinian women who was trapped inside
the Dome of the Rock for four hours, told Middle East Eye. </p>
<p>The mosque's guards also told worshippers not to open the doors and
attempt to leave, fearing that Israeli forces would shoot stun grenades
which could set fire to the carpets, Natsha said.</p>
<p>"We felt devastated and angry," she added. "But in the end we were
also glad that we were present. Had we left the prayer hall the police
would have forced us out of the mosque altogether. We decided to stay
steadfast to protect it."</p>
<h3>Heavily protected settlers </h3>
<p>All the while, hundreds of Israelis, protected by heavily armed
forces, continuously stormed the courtyard of the mosque in different
groups for the duration of the raid. </p>
<p>Far-right Israeli activists and settler groups had announced plans to
storm al-Aqsa this week in large numbers starting from Sunday to mark
the Jewish<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/passover-jewish-festival-explained" target="_blank"> Passover</a> holiday. </p>
<p>The Islamic Waqf, a joint Jordanian-Palestinian trust that
administrates the affairs of al-Aqsa, recorded more than 500 settlers
who entered in this period. </p>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/israel-palestine-settler-incursions-aqsa-mosque-mee.png" alt="." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="232"></p>
<p>Far-right groups that organise these raids, in coordination with the
police, call on Israel to assert full Jewish sovereignty over the site
and allow Jewish worship and ritual sacrifice to take place.</p>
<p>Some also advocate for the destruction of the mosque, where they
believe two ancient Jewish temples once stood, to make way for a third
temple.</p>
<p>In the Old City outside al-Aqsa, some Palestinian men threw stones at
buses carrying Israelis heading to the site, lightly injuring five.
Israeli forces arrested two people in connection with the incident.</p>
<p>Small Palestinian protests took place near Lion's Gate in the Old
City as the raid unfolded. Israeli forces injured at least 17 people,
the PRCS said.</p>
<p>Before dawn, Israeli forces increased their presence outside
al-Aqsa's gates and imposed restrictions on Palestinians trying to
enter the mosque for prayer, eyewitnesses said.</p>
<h3>'Violation of religious rights and sanctities'</h3>
<p>With Passover lasting until the end of the week, settler raids
accompanied by police assaults are expected to continue, Sheikh Najeh
Bakirat, the deputy director of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, told MEE.</p>
<p>"All of these raids are attempting to change the reality on the
ground and create a scared Jewish presence in al-Aqsa," Bakirat said.</p>
<p>"The [Israeli] state will never give up these raids because from the
onset of its creation it has been working to erode this Islamic
monument, which symbolises the Arabic and Islamic roots of the
Palestinian struggle."</p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/000_328G2YY.jpg" alt="A Palestinian man prays in front of the Dome of Rock at the al-Aqsa Mosque after a raid by Israeli forces and settlers on 17 April 17 2022. (AFP)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="261"></p>
A Palestinian man prays in front of the Dome of Rock at the
al-Aqsa Mosque after a raid by Israeli forces and settlers on 17 April
2022 (AFP)</div><p>As part of an understanding between Jordan – the custodian of Islamic
and Christian sites in Jerusalem – and Israel, non-Muslims can visit
al-Aqsa but aren't allowed to pray there. </p>
<p>However, Israel has long ignored this delicate arrangement, often
referred to as the "status quo" and bypassed the Waqf. In recent years,
Israelis forces, settlers and high-profile politicians have <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-aqsa-mosque-raids-incursions-explained" target="_blank">almost on a daily basis</a> raided the mosque without Palestinian permission.</p>
<p>The raids were often scaled-down and at times cancelled during Muslim
holidays, such as in the holy month of Ramadan. However, this has
changed in recent years and settlers also began to perform prayer inside
the mosque during their incursions, which is a violation of the
internationally agreed status quo.</p>
<p>The number of settlers entering the mosque has grown steadily over
the years, causing alarm to Palestinians. In 2009, 5,658 settlers
entered the mosque in such tours. In 2019, just before the Covid
pandemic, the number rose to 30,000, according to some estimates.</p>
<p>Israel's control of occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City,
violates several principles under international law, which stipulates
that an occupying power has <a href="https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/634kfc.htm" target="_blank">no sovereignty</a> in the territory it occupies and cannot make any permanent changes there. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>'Al-Aqsa has been effectively split, both physically and at different
times allocated to settlers. Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying'</p>
<p><em>- Umm Kamel el-Kurd, Palestinian activist</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Umm Kamel el-Kurd, a veteran Jerusalem activist who was in al-Aqsa
during the Sunday raid, said there has been a notable escalation in the
manner and size of Israeli raids. </p>
<p>"The violations and injustice has reached new levels. What is
happening is a catastrophe, it's unacceptable," el-Kurd, who is also
known as Hajja Fawzia, told MEE. "This is a clear violation of religious
rights and sanctities."</p>
<p>What happened today and will continue to happen in al-Aqsa, el-Kurd
said, is another proof of the Israeli government's plan to divide the
mosque between Muslims and Jews, similar to how the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-hebron-elevator-settlers-ibrahimi-mosque" target="_blank">Ibrahimi Mosque</a> in Hebron was divided in the 1990s</p>
<p>"Al-Aqsa has been effectively split, both physically and at different
times allocated to settlers. Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying."</p>
<h3>Calls for protests </h3>
<p>Sunday's raid came as Palestinians marked the 16th day of Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for Muslims.</p>
<p>It followed another <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-jerusalem-aqsa-mosque-storm-attack-worshipper" target="_blank">violent attempt</a>
by Israeli forces to clear al-Aqsa of Muslim worshippers on Friday, in
which more than 150 were wounded and at least 450 arrested as police
fired rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas and stun grenades inside the
courtyard and prayer halls of the mosque.</p>
<p>Shiekh Ekrima Sabri, the imam of Al-Aqsa, told MEE the Friday raid
was a "premeditated and orchestrated attack" against Palestinians. </p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-jerusalem-aqsa-mosque-zionism-religious-war-fuel" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/2022-04/al-aqsa-israeli-forces-aim-baton-15apr2022-afp-edit.jpg?itok=N4_RoNuI" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="245"></a></p><p>How Zionism is fuelling a religious war over al-Aqsa Mosque</p>
</div>
<p>"They want to deter Muslims from coming to the mosque and allow Jewish intruders to storm Al-Aqsa," the 82-year-old said. </p>
<p>The raid was widely condemned by various Muslim-majority states, including Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Palestinians factions also lambasted Israel for the assaults, with
some warning it of the consequences if such violations continued and
urging protesters to take to the streets in various Palestinian cities.</p>
<p>Last year, similar violent raids on al-Aqsa, which coincided with
protests against plans to expel Palestinians from Jerusalem's Sheikh
Jarrah neighbourhood, sparked widespread demonstrations in the West Bank
and within Palestinian cities in Israel and led to an 11-day war
between Israel and armed groups in the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>Israel's bombardment killed 256 Palestinians, including 66 children.
In Israel, 13 people were killed by rockets fired from Gaza.</p>
<p><em>Additional reporting by Latifeh Abdellatif.</em></p>
<p><em>This article is available in French on <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/actu-et-enquetes/jerusalem-alaqsa-palestine-occupation-attaque-ramadan-paque-juive" target="_blank">Middle East Eye French edition</a>.</em></p>
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