ISTANBUL, Sunday, May 26, 2019 (WAFA) – An Israeli human rights activist has called for boycotting the state of Israel and supporting the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement which calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel.

"Almost every single day, another home in the Old City of Jerusalem, in the Muslim Quarter, is being taken by [Israeli] settlers,” Miko Peled, author of "The Israeli Army General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine”, said during a seminar in Istanbul on Friday.

“Unless we act, their successes are going to continue,” Peled was quoted by the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency.

“We need to start imagining a day when we will not see the golden dome in the old city of Jerusalem. We need to have that in our mind,” he stressed, calling for taking action against Israeli violations.

He recalled that over 30,000 Israeli Jews entered Al-Aqsa Mosque last year “in order to instigate, to present themselves as new masters of the land… Their intent is absolutely clear: To destroy what exists today in the holy sanctuary in Jerusalem.”

He continued, “And to them, this beautiful monument, this icon of Jerusalem which is the golden dome, is exactly what they want to get rid of. Instead, they want to build a Jewish temple.”

Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is revered by Muslims as the world‘s third holiest site. Jews refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in which the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

In a move never recognized by the international community, Israel annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the self-proclaimed Jewish state’s “eternal and undivided” capital.

M.N