Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, condemned Israeli action at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in a press conference on Wednesday, saying it is the “exclusive right of the Palestinian Muslims” to practise their religious traditions there.

“It is the right of the Palestinian Muslim worshippers to exercise their religious duties and prayers in this holy month of Ramadan and in any other time in this holy Aqsa Mosque,” Mansour said.

“The Israeli occupying authority has no right whatsoever to tell people when to pray and when not to pray.”

Arab League holds emergency meeting, condemns Israeli action

The Arab League – a regional organisation of 22 member countries – is holding an emergency meeting on the raids at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Hossam Zaki, the league’s assistant secretary general, told Al Jazeera: “We lay the blame totally and squarely on the Israeli government.”

“We are going to work, politically and diplomatically, to expose what Israel has been doing,” he continued.

“It’s not that we need another excuse from the Israeli occupation forces to storm in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They never run out of excuses. They always tell you that there will be youth barricading, amassing guns and so on. We’ve heard it so many times. It is almost irrelevant at this point. This is a government that is bent on harming the Palestinian population.”

Raids on Al-Aqsa ‘a serious provocation’

Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, called the latest violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque a “very serious provocation that will definitely lead to an escalation”.

“And maybe that’s what the Israeli government wants,” he told Al Jazeera. “They want to distract attention from their internal divisions, from the demonstrations that are taking place inside Israel against this government, and they want to drag this whole region into an explosion.”

Barghouti blamed the violence, in part, on the appointment of Itamar Ben-Gvir as Israel’s minister of national security: “This Israeli government is using religion for nationalist causes.”

“This is unprecedented that the mosque would be attacked twice in the same day, people would be injured, elderly people would be attacked, children, women in the morning. And now preventing medical teams from reaching them,” he said..

World Opinins – Agencies

L’article Israeli police attack Palestinians in Al-Aqsa Mosque again est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

If he wanted to get in to the Al-Aqsa Mosque for the last Friday of Ramadan, he would have to wait for more than 11 hours overnight, and then find an opportunity to jump over Israel’s separation wall.

The wall divides the occupied West Bank, where Ahmad lives in the Aqabet Jaber refugee camp in Jericho, from occupied East Jerusalem.

But 20-year-old Ahmad does not consider the barrier to be insurmountable – he’d made the jump before, successfully.

Because of his age, and the fact that he is a Palestinian from the West Bank, Ahmad is unable to enter East Jerusalem. He would have to be over 50, or under 12, to get in on Fridays in Ramadan without a difficult-to-obtain Israeli army permit. Women of all ages are also allowed in on the same days. For the rest of the year, they are all also excluded.

Despite those restrictions, Ahmad and his friends will try to sneak in.

“[Going to Al-Aqsa is] deeply embedded in our hearts – it’s something that I can’t explain,” Ahmad told Al Jazeera. “This is holy land, and it is occupied. We go to pray, and the presence of the occupation itself is a reason for us to go,” he told Al Jazeera.

Ahmad and his friends left their homes in the camp in the eastern occupied West Bank just after midnight on Friday, and made it to the wall at 1am.

“We use a ladder to go up and we check out the other side. We throw down a rope and we go down slowly. When we get down to more than half, we jump,” Ahmad explained.

Ahmad and his friends had planned to be at Al-Aqsa at around 3am before dawn prayers, but they faced a problem – Israeli border police forces happened to be stationed at the other side of the wall from where they were planning to jump.

The Israelis confiscated two of the group’s ladders, according to Ahmad. But several hours later, they had another one.

By the morning, most of the young Palestinians attempting to make the jump had given up, and gone back home.

But Ahmad and his close friends spent a sleepless night waiting, and had their pre-dawn meal in a nearby restaurant, before starting their fast, and waiting for an opportunity.

West Bank Palestinians resort to dangerous trips over Israel’s separation wall to reach Al-Aqsa in East Jerusalem.

“We’re tired because we haven’t slept since yesterday,” Ahmad said in the morning. “The army [police] won’t budge. We’ve been trying all night – we go up every once in a while to check.”

“We just want to break our fast at Al-Aqsa, even if we don’t make it for Friday prayers. We want to experience that moment. The shabab [youth] are adamant to go – they’re saying, ‘We don’t want to go back.’”

‘Walk with confidence’

Hundreds of Palestinians have jumped over Israel’s Separation Wall since its construction began in 2002 during the Second Palestinian Intifada. The eight-metre-high concrete wall is lined with military checkpoints, surveillance cameras and barbed wire.

Israel has claimed that the wall is for security reasons, and that it has reduced the number of attacks in Israel, but 85 percent of it falls deep inside the occupied West Bank and annexes with it large chunks of Palestinian territory occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem.

Rights groups have classified Israel’s wall and the separation of the West Bank from East Jerusalem as an element of the severe restrictions imposed on the movement of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

For Palestinians like Ahmad, those restrictions mean that they are usually unable to visit Al-Aqsa, one of Islam’s holiest sites, and a national Palestinian symbol.

Ahmad was 17 before he saw Jerusalem for the first time, on a school trip with a permit. His visits since have all involved having to jump the wall.

But Ahmad said he had never been stopped. One way to blend in: wearing a silver chain necklace on the outside of his shirt, which he said is the fashion among young Palestinian men in Jerusalem.

“I also try to copy the way that Jerusalemites talk – they are urban people,” he said between laughs, and mentioned that it was important to “walk with confidence”.

“The Old City is full of soldiers – of course, if they see you nervous, they may ask you about your ID. I walk like I’m a son of the city,” remarked Ahmad.

“This way, you basically don’t show.”

‘Security ban’

When Al Jazeera contacted Ahmad just before midday, most of his friends had made the jump, but he had hung back, waiting for his turn with one other friend.

In the meantime, Ahmad explained that his family, like thousands of other Palestinians, have what is known as a “security ban”, and are not eligible for permits to enter Jerusalem or Israel.

Such military-issued orders are at times given to individuals who have served prison time or were involved in “security offences’” as well as their family members.

Despite not being able to travel into Israel legally, Ahmad still encounters Israeli forces, when they frequently raid the camp he lives in and arrest youths.

Ahmad also claimed that his eldest brother was once shot in the thigh with live ammunition during confrontations with the Israeli military.

All of this means that, for Ahmad, the idea of applying for a military permit, with such a low chance of success, is unpalatable.

“To be honest, I am ashamed to go and apply for a military permit,” said Ahmad. “It’s our land, I don’t understand why I have to apply for a military permit … This is shameful and it feels horrible that we can’t go anytime.”

But jumping over the wall is not easy. On Wednesday, which many Muslims believed to be “Laylat al-Qadr”, the holiest night in Ramadan, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had to deal with several injuries as a result of people jumping over the wall.

For a while, Ahmad’s friends who had reached Al-Aqsa had not heard from him, and thought that he may have not made it across.

But, in the mid-afternoon, he arrived, happy, and relieved, to have made it through.

“It’s a very nice feeling to have entered after all that effort – I’m happy and I feel satisfied. I’m going to stay here until iftar,” Ahmad told Al Jazeera, from inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

“It was very worth it – I would have done more to enter,” Ahmad added.

“Anything we can do for Al-Aqsa, we do it. If I hadn’t gotten in, I would’ve kept trying – and I will keep coming back.

WORLD OPINIONS +  AL JAZEERA

L’article Over the wall: One Palestinian’s journey to Al-Aqsa Mosque est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Palestinian foreign minister calls Israel ‘occupying colonial state’ as Israeli envoy slams violence by Hamas as ‘premeditated’ at a UNSC session.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Sunday accused Israel of committing “war crimes” in its nearly weeklong offensive on Gaza as he urged international pressure at a United Nations Security Council session.

SETTLERS ARE ATTACKING PARAMEDICS AND AMBULANCE’CARS !!! THIS IS BEYOND TERRORISM 🤮 #FreePalaestine #Free_Palestine #FreePalaestine #Palestine #Palestinians #Palestinians #Gaza_Under_Attack #gaza #Gaza_Under_Attack #GazaUnderAttackk #SavePalestine #SaveSheikhJarraj 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 https://t.co/nAQJnTybwR

— Haj (@haj2090) May 16, 2021

“Some may not want to use these words – war crimes and crimes against humanity – but they know they are true,” al-Maliki told the virtual session on the crisis on Sunday.

He also renewed the charge – angrily denounced by Israel – that Tel Aviv is pursuing a policy of “apartheid” against the Palestinians.

#Gaza OPEN THE EGYPTIAN BORDERS!!! PLEASE RETWEET https://t.co/PL8uVB8u4O

— Aggie Baas (@AggieBaas) May 16, 2021

“Act now to end the aggression. Act now so freedom can prevail – not apartheid,” he told the Security Council.

Since violence flared on Monday, at least 192 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 58 children. More than 1,200 others have been wounded. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have killed at least 13 Palestinians.

#Gaza #SheikhJarrah#SaveSheikhJarrah#SavePalestine#Gaza_under_attack_now#AlAqsaMosque#GazaUnderAttack#Palestine #IsraeliTerrorism #IsraeliCrimes https://t.co/7D9cnvMhnM

— Rou‏‎⁷ ‏‎⟭⟬ 🇩🇿. 🇵🇸 (@Rou47652510) May 16, 2021

Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children, from the thousands of missiles fired from Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, many of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system.

Al-Maliki – part of the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip and has been firing rockets into Israel – voiced regret over Israeli deaths but urged the Security Council to examine the power balance.

#Gaza OPEN THE EGYPTIAN BORDERS!!! PLEASE RETWEET https://t.co/TdqSmZQ9Ln

— Aggie Baas (@AggieBaas) May 16, 2021

Israel “is an occupying colonial power. Any assessment of the situation that fails to take into account this fundamental fact is biased”, al-Maliki said.

“Israel always says, put yourselves in our shoes. But Israel is not wearing shoes. It is wearing military boots.”

When 14-year-old Amer Quneibi was questioned by Israeli authorities for throwing stones at settlers in Hebron, his family could not be by his side.

Desperate to see their son, his parents try to reason with the strict detention centre guard. Full film: https://t.co/wR7Q9x8hco pic.twitter.com/QAebYCN7tC

— AJWitness (@AJWitness) May 16, 2021

World Opinions News – Aljazeera

L’article Israel committing war crimes in Gaza, Palestinian FM tells UN.. Videos est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Israel braced for more protests on Saturday after violence at East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound wounded more than 200 people as the international community called for calm after days of escalating tensions.

Earlier today the Israeli police tried to disperse the weekly protest in #SheikhJarrah #SaveSheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/NBrab2Ujru

— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv1985) May 7, 2021

Israeli police fired rubber-coated metal bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinians at Al-Aqsa as anger grows over the potential eviction of Palestinians from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem.

At least 205 Palestinians and 17 officers were injured in the night-time clashes at Islam’s third-holiest site and around East Jerusalem, Palestinian medics and Israeli police said, as thousands of Palestinians faced off with several hundred Israeli police in riot gear.

Violence erupted on Friday when Israeli police deployed heavily as Muslims were performing evening prayers at Al-Aqsa during the holy month of Ramadan.

Right now in Sheikh Jarrah: settlers are walking around armed while no Palestinians are allowed in. LOOK AND LOOK AGAIN.

What if they massacre us?! Our families are terrified. Who’s to save us?! pic.twitter.com/tic35KCFfN

— mohammed el-kurd (@m7mdkurd) May 7, 2021

Video footage from the scene shows worshippers throwing chairs, shoes and rocks towards the police and officers opening fire. Israeli police also closed gates leading to Al-Aqsa inside the walled Old City.

The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service said one of the injured lost an eye, two suffered serious head wounds, and two had their jaws fractured. Most were wounded in the face and eyes by rubber-coated rounds and shrapnel from stun grenades.

Despite having no right to E Jerusalem, Israel nonetheless is carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign in the city. The latest is an effort to evict Palestinian families from #SheikhJarrah & hand their homes to settlers. & this isn’t the 1st time:

pic.twitter.com/pt8l2sqbk6

— BAYAN❖🧈 free palestine (@billiewheein) May 8, 2021

An Al-Aqsa official appealed for calm on the compound through the mosque’s loudspeakers. “Police must immediately stop firing stun grenades at worshippers, and the youth must calm down and be quiet.”

Tens of thousands of Palestinian worshippers earlier packed into the mosque on the final Friday of Ramadan, and many stayed on to protest in support of Palestinians facing eviction from their homes on Israeli-occupied land claimed by Jewish settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.

Calls for calm and restraint poured in from the United States and the United Nations, with others including the European Union and Jordan voicing alarm at the possible evictions.

No caption needed #SheikhJarrah #حي_الشيخ_جراح pic.twitter.com/ZKJkrHmiC9

— لينة (@LenaSuhail96) May 8, 2021

“If we don’t stand with this group of people here, [evictions] will [come] to my house, her house, his house and to every Palestinian who lives here,” said protester Bashar Mahmoud, 23, from the nearby Palestinian neighbourhood of Issawiya.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he “held [Israel] responsible for the dangerous developments and sinful attacks taking place in the holy city”, and called on the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session on the issue.

Abbas praised the “courageous stand” of the protesters.

Hoy todo el mundo debería ver lo que está haciendo la ocupación sionista en Jerusalén en la mezquita de #AlAqsa y el barrio de #SheikhJarrah y hablar y defender a las vidas de lo palestinos.🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸#PalestiniansLivesMatter #salvaSheikhJarrah #SaveSheikhJarrah #spain #español pic.twitter.com/0q7PZsDXM5

— Blue Star (@MiqdadiT) May 8, 2021

Protest groups affiliated with Hamas, rulers of the Gaza Strip, said they would resume demonstrations and the launching of incendiary balloons along the heavily guarded Gaza frontier. Hamas has largely curtailed such actions over the past two years as part of an informal ceasefire that now appears to be fraying.

In an interview with a Hamas-run TV station, the group’s top leader Ismail Haniyeh addressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by name, warning him not to “play with fire”.

“Neither you nor your army and police can win this battle,” he said. “What’s happening in Jerusalem is an intifada that must not stop.”

Sheikh Jarrah’s residents are overwhelmingly Palestinian, but the neighbourhood also contains a site revered by religious Jews as the tomb of an ancient high priest, Simeon the Just.

The spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the evictions, “if ordered and implemented, would violate Israel’s obligations under international law” on East Jerusalem territory it captured and occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

World Opinions News – agencies

L’article Hundreds hurt as Palestinians protest evictions in Jerusalem.. Video est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.