Publish date20 Oct 2014 - 9:55
Story Code : 171705

Abbas calls for international measures against settler "aggression" at Al-Aqsa

Israeli security forces stand in front of Palestinians holding up a placard during a rally near the entrance of Al-Aqsa mosque compound to protest after authorities restricted access to the esplanade on October 15, 2014 outside Jerusalem
Israeli security forces stand in front of Palestinians holding up a placard during a rally near the entrance of Al-Aqsa mosque compound to protest after authorities restricted access to the esplanade on October 15, 2014 outside Jerusalem's Old City.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday legal measures would be taken to prevent Zionist settlers from attacking Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, having said their presence desecrates the site.

His remarks follow a recent spate of clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli police, which erupted when Jewish settlers visited the complex while Palestinian worshipers were kept out.

Muslims fear Zionist presence on Al-Aqsa is aimed at usurping the site.

"The Palestinian leadership will be taking the necessary legal measures, at the international level, regarding the aggression of settlers on the Al-Aqsa mosque," Abbas said in a speech to the Revolutionary Council of his Fatah party.

"We will not allow settlers to attack the mosque," he added, referring to the entire compound, which is the third holiest site in Islam.

Non-Muslim visits to Al-Aqsa complex are permitted and regulated by police, but Jews are not allowed to pray at the site for fear it could trigger major disturbances, nor do they enter the mosques there.

Jews pray instead at the Western Wall below.

The site is the scene of frequent tensions and also houses the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine.

It is revered by Jews, who call it the Temple Mount, as the location of the biblical Jewish temples and considered Judaism's holiest place.

On Friday, Abbas had pledged to bar settlers from entering the Al-Aqsa compound "by any means."

"They have no right to enter it and desecrate it," he said of the visiting Israeli Zionist.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized those remarks, accusing Abbas of "trying to inflame the situation by using the most sensitive place, the Temple Mount."

The Palestinian leader's statements proved that "Abbas and the PA were behind the riots" on the compound, Lieberman claimed in a Saturday statement.

Lieberman further said Abbas's remarks were "incitement against Israelis and Jews and a call for a religious war," which put Abbas "in one front with extremist Islamic organizations, like (ISIS) and Al-Nusra Front, which sanctify a holy war."

Israeli politicians have increasingly tried to make parallels between Palestinian resistance fighters and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria group, which slamming comments by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who linked Israel’s illegal settlement construction with the growth of Islamic extremism in the region.
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