The Supreme Islamic Fatwa Council of Palestine has warned of recurring Israeli settlers storming of al-Aqsa Mosque reaching an alarming level.

“The blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is currently going through a painful and dangerous state, not because the occupation was able to reach an advanced stage in its control over it, but rather because the occupation authorities are taking consecutive steps to start the implementation of the construction of their alleged temple” on its site, said the Council in a statement.

It stressed that despite all that is happening, the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Jewish fanatics will not change the existing legal, religious and historical status of the Mosque as an Islamic endowment for Muslims all over the world, who “will defend it with all the force they have.”

The Council, in its meeting in Jerusalem chaired by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, Chairman of the Supreme Fatwa Council, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, reiterated its condemnation of assaults against Islamic symbols and sanctities under the cover of freedom of expression, stressing that this abhorrent and hateful crime, such as burning the Holy Quran, cannot be tolerated, “because it is racism per se intended to fuel the feelings of hatred and violence among people, and pushes toward a religious war that cannot be stopped.”

It also condemned Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes, seizing lands, uprooting trees, controlling and exploiting Palestinian natural resources, and looting water, describing these acts as an “abhorrent ethnic and racial cleansing.”

The Fatwa Council also reiterated its position issued earlier regarding the prohibition of participation or candidacy in the Israeli municipal elections in occupied Jerusalem, justifying this by its violation of religious law and the national consensus against it because the municipality is the arm of the occupation authorities in implementing settlement and Judaization projects in occupied Jerusalem, restricting means of living and housing for its Palestinian residents, and imposing exorbitant taxes on them.

“The city of Jerusalem is occupied, and it is Arab and Islamic, and this is confirmed by international laws that consider Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian lands occupied,” stressed the Council.