By Said Amouri
JERUSALEM (AA): Dozens of Israeli settlers on Sunday forced their way into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, according to a Palestinian NGO. Israeli settlers also attacked Palestinians and their homes in Hebron.
The settlers toured the holy site under the protection of Israeli police, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in a statement.
Settler visits to the holy site resumed on May 31, after a two-month closure due to the spread of coronavirus in Israel and Palestinian territories.
In the meantime, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Dabouyia assaulted a Palestinian man on Shuhada Street in Hebron, southern West Bank, Palestinian WAFA News Agency reported.
Similarly, illegal settlers from the Kiryat Arba colony in Hebron attacked Palestinian homes and vehicles, causing property damage.
On Saturday, illegal Israeli settlers stormed the village of al-Tuwanah, in the Masafer Yatta area in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, a local source reported.
Watch | #Israeli forces and settlers attack Palestinian residents of the village of al-Tuwanah near the West Bank city of Hebron, today. pic.twitter.com/0sxZsfAiUP
— Quds News Network (@Qudsn_en) June 13, 2020
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
International law continues to view East Jerusalem, along with the entire West Bank, as “occupied territories” and considers all Jewish settlement construction there as illegal.
* Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara
Additional report by imemc.org
[Archive Photo: Eid Al-Adha worshippers attacked by Israeli police and Jewish settlers in Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on 11 August 2019. Photographer: Faiz Aby Rmeleh/AA]