There is a new severe blow dealt to the fragile situation on the Palestinian territories: the Israeli works resumed on the esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem. This resumption followed an Israeli Sunday foray inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, when Israeli police disrupted the Palestinian faithful prayers, blew gas grenades and rubber bullets, leaving several wounded persons.
Nayla Chahla-While the Jewish State already launched an extension settlement process, despite all international calls to halt its works, the State kept pace with its strategy and resumed on Monday the works it underwent on the esplanade of the Mosques, through digging up tunnels under Al-Aqsa Mosque. After the Israeli Army’s Sunday foray of Al-Aqsa Mosque, there was flow of condemnations from everywhere inside the occupied territories as well as in Lebanon.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned on Sunday the Israeli police “violation” on the esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem and called on an extraordinary meeting of its Executive Committee to address the means to retaliate to that violation. It called, in a statement, the Muslim community worldwide to take action in order to defend the sacred places of Islam and warned that should Al-Aqsa Mosque be damaged, it would have “negative consequences” on the international peace and security.
Hezbollah MP Hussein Osseiran held the Arab and Islamic countries accountable of what was happening in the Palestinian territories. “The Israeli aggression of Al Aqsa Mosque is mainly the result of divisions and disagreements among Arab and Islamic countries”, he said.
To his part, Amal Movement warned, in a statement, against the escalation of Israeli terrorism that, “The Zionist enemy is practicing through provocations and ongoing works around the sacred Mosque”. It warned Arab leaderships against Israel-adopted strategy to achieve its ends. Therefore, it called on replying politically and popularly against those violations through reactivating UN resolutions. It also suggested holding a general conference to determine further measures aiming at backing Palestinian resistance, mainly the residents in the Al-Aqsa Mosque region.
Among other reactions, one voiced by the Lebanese outgoing Prime Minister Fouad Siniora who strongly condemned the Israeli intimidations in Palestine, mainly the violation of Al-Aqsa Mosque. He warned against an explosion of the situation that would lead to an all-out confrontation, should said violations be not halted. Siniora urged the International Community to declare emergency state regarding the situation in Palestine. He held the Israeli Cabinet accountable of the current situation. He also stated that Israel was still aborting all peace endeavors through keeping pace with its extremist activities and its settlement works in Jerusalem and its neighborhood.
In fact, Israeli activities came while some Arab countries, namely Egypt, were putting efforts to achieve a Palestinian reconciliation. Arab point of views mostly said Israel was taking advantage of the division between the Palestinian Authority (chaired by the Fatah Movement) and the Resistance Movement “Hamas”, to pursue its repeated violations. The Gaza Strip (Hamas stronghold) was subjected to violent battles in December 2008 and January 2009. The Israeli offensive aimed at halting rockets fired from Gaza against Israeli territories.