JERUSALEM, August 13, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli police detained at least 10 Palestinians and physically assaulted three others during large-scale overnight raids across Jerusalem, said WAFA correspondent.
Israeli police conducted a large-scale detention raids across Jerusalem’s Old City, handcuffing and detaining at least 10 Palestinian youths.
The detainees were identified as Murad al-Ashhab, ‘Ala al-Fakhury, Wesam Hijazi, ‘Ala Jamjum, Ahmad Abu Ghazala, Muhammad Abu Shusha, Yusef Abu Shusha, Tareq al-Zarba, Yasser Najib and Obada Najib.
Police reportedly severely physically assaulted other three Palestinian youths during violent clashes that erupted at Al-Wad Street in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Clashes were triggered by Israeli settlers who hurled empty bottles and stones at local Palestinian houses.
These detentions raids came in anticipation of the start of the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’av, which commemorates the anniversary of what Jews believe to be the destruction of the first and second temples that stood in the place of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Settlers have already stormed the mosque compound and are expected to make further mass tours on Sunday, the day of Tisha B’av, following calls by Jewish settler groups, known as ‘Temple Mount’ organizations.
Settlers’ prayers at the compound violates a an agreement signed between Israel and Jordan following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.
Jewish settler groups’ persistent calls for the destruction of the mosque and the construction of a Jewish temple on the site combined with proposals for a Knesset vote to divide the site between Jews and Muslims have outraged the Palestinian public.
Palestinian public sees the encroachment on Al-Aqsa as symptomatic of the wider denial of their rights in historic Palestine as well as intense discrimination in housing, employment, and social services by Israeli authorities.
The compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque and is the third holiest site in Islam.
It is also venerated as Judaism‘s most holy place as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.
Al-Aqsa is located in East Jerusalem, a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian territories that have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
K.F.
