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Israel ups policing at al-Aqsa site

Israeli police have deployed in force on a planned day of Palestinian protest against controversial work near Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque.

To guard against possible unrest, 3,000 policemen and border guards fanned out around Jerusalem's Old City, as Israel tightened restrictions on those attending prayers on Friday.

Mohammed Hussein, the Palestinian mufti, and Raed Salah, the head of Israel's Islamic Movement, have urged people to mobilise against continuing Israeli excavations that Muslims say endanger the al-Aqsa mosque compound site.

Only Muslim men aged over 50 and in possession of Israeli identity cards are being allowed to attend Friday prayers at the mosque, although there are no restrictions on women. Communal Friday prayers are a religious obligation for Muslim men.

Al Jazeera's Barnaby Philips said men who had been prevented from entering the mosque were praying outside on the street and that at least three people had been arrested.

Illegal demonstration

A Jerusalem court has banned Salah from coming within 150m of the Old City walls for two months, after finding him guilty of participating in an illegal demonstration against the work and assaulting a police officer.

Salah vowed to ignore the Israeli court's order.

"I have the right to enter al-Aqsa," Salah told Al Jazeera. "We have the right to protect the al-Aqsa mosque and confront the Israeli occupation.

"I hope that 10,000 of our people will head towards al-Aqsa mosque today [Friday]."

Israel's increased police presence comes after 15 police and at least 20 Palestinians were wounded in clashes at the al-Aqsa compound on a similar day of protest against the Israeli works last Friday. Agencies

Labels: al-Aqsa, Israel, Luar Negeri, Palestin

AlJazeera, February 10 - Egyptian authorities have arrested dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members following protests the day before over Israel's renovation work near Islam's third-holiest shrine.

An interior ministry official said 38 members of the group were arrested in Cairo on Friday on allegations that they attacked security forces and threw bricks at them.

Two other Brotherhood members were also arrested for allegedly being involved in skirmishes with the police in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Protests broke out across the Middle East on Friday, with demonstrations in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, demanding an immediate halt for the Israeli digging near the holy site.

Israel denies the repair work and accompanying excavations will come anywhere near the compound, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims.

Egyptian anti-riot police scuffled with demonstrators in Cairo and prevented worshippers from getting inside the Al-Azhar mosque, the Sunni Arab world's most powerful institution. Demonstrators held a smaller protests in Alexandria and other Egyptian cities.

Since late last year, police have detained at least 140 Brotherhood members, including its number 3 leader, Khayrat el-Shater, whose case was one of 40 who have been referred to a military court. State owned media have recently intensified their campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood.

The banned but tolerated movement is Egypt's largest opposition group, after having won 88 out of the 454 parliament seats in the 2005 legislative elections. Agencies

Labels: al-Aqsa, Ikhwan, Luar Negeri, Mesir

KudusYolu, 09 February 2007 - Hezbollah dismissed in a statement what the Israeli occupation is doing at the "Moroccans Gate" as a blatant violation to the sanctity of Islamic holy places and an aggression on the sanctities of Arabs and Muslims, who regard Al-Quds city as their most symbolic region under occupation.

The statement added that keeping silence on what is being done to this holy place is dangerous and encourages the enemy to perpetrate further, wider and more dangerous violations.

Hezbollah also said that the ongoing offensive proves the concerns which we have been raising regarding Israeli plots against the Al-Aqsa mosque and the surrounding holy places.

It is therefore a reason to push Arab and Islamic governments to shoulder the responsibility of facing these plots.

Labels: al-Aqsa, Hizbullah, Luar Negeri, Palestin, Ummah

PUTRAJAYA, February 9 - It is time for the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to come up with “more than just words” to stop Israel from desecrating an Islamic holy site.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said if OIC secretary-general’s office were really interested in stopping Israel’s excavations near the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, it would need to initiate concrete action.

“The days of talking are over,” he told reporters after accepting contributions from the Wisma Putra Sports and Welfare Club for flood victims in Johor here on Thursday.

Syed Hamid was responding to a statement by OIC secretary-general Prof Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu that he “had initiated proactive contacts” with Islamic Summit Conference chairman Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in order to come up with a move to counter the aggressions taken by Israel against the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The excavation had demolished a passage linking the mosque to Al-Maghariba Gate nearby, a move which drew protests.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered the third most holy site for Muslims.

However, Syed Hamid said, as the current chair of OIC, Malaysia was willing to coordinate a meeting for all members to come together and decide on a joint action.

This was because, he added, each member in the Middle East region had its own diplomatic tie or stand towards Israel, which had to be taken into account for any joint action to be effective. theStarOnline

Labels: al-Aqsa, Malaysia, Pak Lah, Ummah

AlJazeera, February 10 - Clashes have broken out between Israeli police and Muslim worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem following Friday prayers.

(Picture left - Demonstrations had earlier taken place close to the al-Aqsa compound - AFP)

About 2,000 Israeli police using tear gas and stun grenades entered the area around the mosque. Two Palestinians and one Israeli police officer have been reported as wounded.

Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from Jerusalem, said there were suggestions of police using rubber-coated steel bullets.

Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent, said the sheikh of the mosque made calls for calm came over the mosques loudspeaker system, usually used for the call to prayer. Agencies

Labels: al-Aqsa, Luar Negeri, Palestin, Ummah

AlJazeera, February 9 - Israel has deployed 3,000 police officers around Jerusalem's Old City ahead of Muslim prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, amid widespread Arab anger over Israeli excavation work nearby.

(Picture left - Demonstrations have taken place close to the al-Aqsa compound - AFP)

Ilan Franco, Jerusalem police chief, said officers were posted on Friday amid "intelligence indications" that disturbances could erupt.

Arab states say the work could damage the foundations of the mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.

Israeli authorities say the building work, begun on Tuesday, is being carried out to replace a centuries-old ramp 60 metres away.

'Day of anger'

A day of "anger" on the Muslim day of rest has been called by Tayssir al-Tamimi, the Palestinian chief justice, who on Tuesday called for "all Palestinians to go and protect al-Aqsa against Israeli plans that aim to destroy the mosque".

Thousands of Muslims regularly attend Friday prayers at the site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

For Jews it is the Temple Mount and the sacred site of their biblical temples.

International observers have said that the excavation work risks igniting a third Palestinian intifada [uprising] against Israel.

A controversial visit to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, then leader of the Israeli opposition, sparked the most recent intifada.

Restricted access

An Arab group at the United Nations appealed on Thursday to the UN security council to stop the excavation work.

In a statement, Arab ambassadors asked the Security Council "to take immediate and urgent measures to put an end to Israeli violations and to guarantee its respect for international law and security council resolutions".

They said in a statement they "denounced the Israeli occupation authority's escalation of its aggression on Islamic endowments in occupied East Jerusalem by starting to destroy a historic route."

'Provocation'

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has condemned the Israeli excavations as a provocation to Muslims.

Israeli officials have said some Muslim commentators are using the renovation work as a pretext to stoke anger against Israel.

Speaking during a visit to Spain on Thursday, Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, accused "political extremists" of trying to "exploit this situation".

Muslims believe the compound, home to the golden-capped Dome of the Rock shrine and al-Aqsa mosque, is where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

Israel has controlled the compound since the 1967 Mideast War, but has left its administration largely to the Jordanian-controlled Waqf trust and the Palestinians. Agencies

Labels: al-Aqsa, Luar Negeri, Palestin, Ummah

AlJazeera, February 8 - Israel's prime minister is reported to have rejected a call from his defence minister to halt excavation work near Jerusalem's most important holy site, an Israeli newspaper reports.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli leader, said he would allow the dig near the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem to continue after the appeal from Amir Peretz.

"A thorough examination of the matter would reveal that nothing about the work under way will harm anyone, and there is no truth in the contentions against the work," the Ha'aretz newspaper quoted Olmert's office as saying.

Arab states have said the work could damage al-Aqsa's foundations.

For years the Islamic Movement has waged a campaign to "save" al-Aqsa, the main mosque in a compound in Israeli-occupied and annexed east Jerusalem.

The compound is known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam.

The Israeli defence ministry did not immediately comment on Thursday's report and Olmert's office was not available for a response.

Ceasefire threatened

Tensions have flared between Israel and the Palestinians over the Israeli excavation, which started on Tuesday.

Palestinians said a ceasefire in Gaza with Israel could unravel if the work continued.

Ha'aretz said Peretz wrote to Olmert on Wednesday calling for the immediate stop to the work, citing security concerns.

The Fatah faction of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said any damage caused to the mosque by the dig work would "lead to a termination" of a November ceasefire deal operating in Gaza, and spark a "volcano of anger".

Israel say the excavations are part of a search for ancient artefacts beneath the compound but would not harm the sacred site in Jerusalem's walled Old City.

"I turn to Olmert to think anew," Sheikh Abdallah Nimr Darwish, head of Israel's Islamic Movement, told Israel Radio.

"Whoever wants to speak about peace does not excavate anywhere in the area around the holy al-Aqsa mosque," Darwish said, referring to Olmert's planned February 19 peace talks with Abbas and Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state. Agencies

Labels: al-Aqsa, Berita, Israel, Luar Negeri, Palestin

KudusYolu, 08 February 2007 - Occupation Israeli policemen on Wednesday beat up Sheikh Ra'ed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 areas, and arrested him along with seven of his Movement's cadres while protesting the IOA demolition of parts of the holy Aqsa Mosque.

Mahmoud Abu Atta, the media coordinator of the Aqsa foundation, said that Israeli occupation police forces used batons in beating Sheikh Salah and his deputy Sheikh Kamal Al-Khatib in addition to Sheikh Ali Abu Sheikha, the head of the Aqsa foundation, before arresting Sheikh Salah, Dr. Suleiman Eghbaria, a member of the Movement, his son Anas and five supporters of the Movement.

The arrest followed Sheikh Salah and his supporters' picketing in front of the Maghareba gate where the IOA was and still is demolishing the road leading to the historical gateway since Tuesday.

Abu Atta said that the demolition was accelerating on Wednesday as more police forces were summoned to the scene and threats of arrest were voiced against anyone protesting the demolition.

Meanwhile, Israeli police sources said that an Israeli settler filed a complaint against Sheikh Salah for asking Muslims to defend the Aqsa Mosque.

The sources said that the complaint was filed according to the law banning incitement, adding that Sheikh Salah, according to the plaintiff, had incited against the Hebrew state when he asked the Arab and Islamic countries to defend the Aqsa Mosque in face of Israeli excavations. Palestine-info.co.uk

Labels: al-Aqsa, Berita, Luar Negeri, Palestin

KudusYolu, 05 February 2007 - The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas Movement, on Sunday warned that any harm done to the holy Aqsa Mosque at the hands of Israel would be met with an unprecedented reprisal.

The armed wing, in a communiqué, said that it was closely monitoring events in occupied Jerusalem, and threatened "cruel" retaliatory strikes to any crime against the holy site.

"The Aqsa Mosque is a red line and any attempt to cross that line would lead to the Zionists' destruction", it warned, adding that Israel should not forget past lessons whenever they attempted to desecrate or tamper with the holy shrine.

The Qassam Brigades, meanwhile, said that the ongoing judaization of occupied Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque was the last warning to the Muslims before the total destruction of the Aqsa at the hands of "Zionist Jews".

It added that Israel was actually proceeding in its bit by bit destruction of the site amidst "horrific silence on the part of leaders of Arab and Islamic countries".

The armed wing called on the Muslim Ummah to shoulder its responsibility towards the third holiest shrine in Islam, and addressed what it called a "final appeal" to the entire world before the "big catastrophe takes place" and thence "regret would be of no use because the entire region would be on fire". © Copyright palestine-info.co.uk

Labels: al-Aqsa, Israel, Luar Negeri, Palestin, Ummah