Massive Rallies in Gaza, Lebanon in Solidarity with Quds
The demonstrations were held after Friday prayers at the invitation of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, Palestine Today website reported.
The demonstrators chanted slogans in support of Quds (Jerusalem) and condemned the recent attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Zionist regime and radical Jewish settlers.
Anger is rising over the recent Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the al-Aqsa Mosque and Tel Aviv’s decision to deny Palestinians under the age of 50 entry into the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
Earlier on Friday, Tel Aviv deployed some 1,300 soldiers in and around the occupied Old City of al-Quds to suppress Palestinians protesting Israel’s violations in the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The mosque has recently been the scene of clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israelis.
Israel closed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound to Muslim worshippers a day after a 32-year-old Palestinian, Moataz Hejazi, made an attempt on the life of Yehuda Glick, an American-born Israeli settler, on October 29.
The Israeli rabbi ran campaigns for expansion of Israeli access to the mosque.
The al-Aqsa compound, located in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, is a flashpoint holy Islamic site. The location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Over the past decades, Israel has tried to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population.
