JERUSALEM, Wednesday, February 19, 2020 (WAFA) – Israeli police Wednesday morning shut down a bakery shop and detained the owner in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Local sources confirmed that Israeli police shut down a bakery shop in Bab Hutta neighborhood, citing the distribution of ka‘ek, a crusty bread with sesame seeds, to Muslim worshipers on last Friday free of charge as a pretext.

The owner of the bakery shop, identified as Nasser Abu Sneina, was detained.

Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a Silwan-based watchdog, posted a video showing the closed bakery, located at Bab Hutta, one of the doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which gives the name to the neighborhood.

Messianic Jewish settlers are hoping to establish an increased presence on the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque, among the most important Muslim shrines in the world and potent symbols of Palestinian nationalism, and calling for building a third temple on what they term the “Temple Mount”.

Their far-right beliefs were once considered a small fringe movement, but in recent years, they have found favor in the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, receiving the endorsement of many lawmakers.

Settlers incursions into the mosque compound coupled with the takeover of church property in Jerusalem are perceived as part of the plan to transform a multi-religious and multi-cultural city into a “reunified” Jewish city under the exclusive control and sovereignty of Israel.

K.F.