Assault on Islamic Sanctities Increases Palestinians’ Resistance: Al-Azhar
In a statement on Tuesday, the Islamic center slammed the illegal visit of the Zionist regime’s head Isaac Herzog to the Ibrahimi Mosque in the occupied West Bank.
These blatant aggressive practices are a violation and assault on Islamic sanctities, and a miserable attempt to create a new reality in the occupied Arab Palestinian territories, noted the statement.
Such moves only increase the Palestinian people's resistance and strength to defend their rights, lands, and religious sanctities.
Al-Azhar also urged the international community to take a firm stance against such moves and put an end to Zionists’ provocations as these assaults hurt the feelings of almost two billion Muslims around the globe.
On Sunday evening, the Israeli regime’s president, Isaac Herzog, amidst strict military measures, took part in a candle lighting ceremony at the mosque during his planned visit to the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Israeli forces closed the mosque’s gates and prevented Palestinian residents, who had gathered to denounce the visit, from praying or being in the vicinity of the site.
Israeli forces also attacked protesters in an attempt to disperse the angry crowds of Palestinians.
The Israeli troops even forced the shop owners to close their shops and hindered the work of the Palestinian press crews in a bid to prevent them from covering the intrusion.
The holy site was split into a synagogue, known to Jews as the Cave of Patriarchs, and a mosque after American-born Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Palestinians inside the mosque in 1994. Since then, Muslim worshipers have been prevented from having access to the site during Jewish holidays.
