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Israeli Occupation Soldiers Close Al-Aqsa Mosque, Assassinate Mu'ataz Hijazi for Attempting to Assassinate Extremist Rabbi Yehuda Glick

October 30, 2014

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Israeli special forces assassinate liberated prisoner

October 30, 2014

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

Israeli special police forces killed Mutaz Hijazi, a liberated prisoner, in Silwan south of the Aqsa Mosque at dawn Thursday, after breaking into his home.

Jerusalemite sources said that special forces and disguised security elements raided Thawri neighborhood in Silwan at dawn and broke into Hijazi’s home and killed him on the roof of his house at point blank.

According to a police source, Hijazi was killed in a shootout with an elite Border Guard counter-terrorism unit (Yamam).

The Israeli police accused Hijazi with the attempted assassination of extremist rabbi Yehuda Glick on Wednesday night.

Eyewitnesses reported that Hijazi was fatally shot and succumbed to his wounds a short while later. They said that three other inhabitants in the suburb were injured in the incident.

Hijazi served 11 and half years in Israeli jails including ten years in solitary confinement. He was arrested in 2000 and jailed for six years for joining intifada activities. He received four additional years sentence in 2004 after he assaulted one of his guards. He was released in June 2012.

Israeli officials threaten strong response to shooting of Glick

October 30, 2014

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

As the Israeli occupation police have unprecedentedly intensified security measures in the occupied city of Jerusalem following the shooting of extremist Jewish rabbi Yehuda Glick, different Israeli officials incited their government to strongly respond to the incident.

In a first reaction made by a senior Israeli official, right-wing minister of housing Uri Ariel said in televised remarks that Israel would strike with an iron fist those who had carried out the attack on Glick.

Israel's channel 10 said that head of the Israeli municipal council in the holy city Nir Barkat and Deputy speaker of the Knesset Moshe Feiglin both visited the scene of the incident last night and made press remarks.

Describing the incident as very serious, Barkat pledged to hold the perpetrators fully accountable and take new security measures in Jerusalem.

Feiglin, who witnessed the shooting of Glick, threatened to respond to the incident by permanently opening the Aqsa Mosque before Jews.

For his part, Israeli minister of economy Naftali Bennett condemned the attempted assassination of Glick as crossing a red line of blood and demanded the Israeli premier to impose what he described as Israel's full sovereignty over the city immediately.

Following the incident, the Israeli police held last night an urgent security meeting to assess the security situation in Jerusalem, closed the Aqsa Mosque completely before Muslims and put its forces on high alert.

Fanatic Israeli rabbi Yehuda Glick shot at, seriously wounded in OJ

October 30, 2014

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

Yehuda Glick, the fanatic rabbi organizing semi-daily break-ins into al-Aqsa Mosque, has been shot and seriously wounded on Wednesday night in occupied Jerusalem.

The Israeli TV Channel 10 reported that the rabbi, a right-wing activist, was shot at from close range in his upper body outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center after attending 'Israel Returns to the Temple Mount' conference.

The broadcast said that a motorcyclist fired at Glick, 50, at point blank, and quoted medical sources as saying that he was hit with three bullets and his condition was serious.

It said that a Palestinian man was suspected of carrying out the attempt, adding that police forces were deployed in various suburbs in the holy city looking for the suspect.

The TV said that Nir Barakat, the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, arrived to the scene along with MK Moshe Feiglin amidst tight security measures.

Israeli police close Aqsa Mosque to all Muslims after shooting incident

October 30, 2014

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

The Israeli occupation police in occupied Jerusalem closed last night the Aqsa Mosque to Muslims until further notice, while Jewish extremists incited their compatriots to desecrate the Islamic holy place en masse.

During a security meeting to assess intelligence reports on the security situation in the aftermath of the shooting of rabbi Yehuda Glick, head of the right-wing temple mount faithful movement, the security authorities decided to close the Aqsa Mosque to all Muslims and visitors, according to a police spokesperson

Consequently, Jewish extremists called for defiling the Aqsa Mosque on Thursday morning in response to the attempted assassination of Glick,.

Palestinian youth activists, for their part, urged the Palestinians on social networking websites to march to the Aqsa Mosque and stay inside to protect it against any Jewish attempts to violate its sanctity.

Glick, a Jewish figure notorious for his calls for demolishing the Aqsa Mosque and building the temple mount in its place, was seriously injured in a drive-by shooting outside Begin center in east Jerusalem following a conference about the Jewish presence at the Aqsa Mosque.

In a related incident, director of the Aqsa Mosque Omar Al-Kiswani said he insisted on starting the dawn prayers on Thursday at the Aqsa Mosque despite the Israeli police decision to close it.

"I arrived at the Mosque in the early dawn hours as Israeli police forces were encircling it and preventing worshipers from entering, but I was able to go in by virtue of my job as the director of the Mosque," Kiswani told Anadolu news agency.

"Nobody was inside the Mosque, but the Adhan was recited on time and the prayer time was delayed for 10 minutes in the hope that the Israeli police would allow the worshipers to enter the Mosque," he explained.

Later, he said, he and seven guards of the Mosque had to perform alone the dawn prayers inside the holy place after they turned on loudspeakers in order for other worshipers who were outside the gates of the Mosque to be able to follow the prayers.

It has been the first time since 1967 the Israeli police shut down the Aqsa Mosque entirely before Muslims without stating when it would be reopened.

A group of settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque

October 29, 2014

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM,(PIC)--

A group of Jewish settlers stormed Wednesday al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards under heavy Israeli forces protection.

PIC reporter quoted eyewitnesses as stating that several groups of Israeli settlers stormed afternoon the Mosque's plazas via the Magaribeh gate under Israeli Special Forces protection.

Female worshipers stationed in al-Aqsa Mosque started shooting Takbeer in protest against the setters’ provocative break-in, causing a state of tension among the Jewish settlers.

The Mosque guards together with the worshipers were deployed throughout its courtyards to prevent any attempt by settlers to perform Talmudic rituals in the Islamic holy site.

The Israeli occupation authorities have recently allowed large groups of settlers to have access to al-Aqsa Mosque under security protection as a prelude to impose a status quo in the Mosque.

In the same context, Secretary General of the Palestine Scholars Association Dr. Nawaf Takruri hailed Qatar and Qatar Charity Association’s prominent efforts in supporting the Palestinian people, pointing in this regard to the first humanitarian forum of Palestine held in Doha.

He called on the Arab countries, the free world, and Islamic scholars to support the Palestinians’ steadfastness and adherence to their land and rights.

Supporting the steadfastness of Palestinian worshipers and students in al-Aqsa Mosque is no less important than the other priorities, he added.

He warned of the Israeli continued and escalated Judaization schemes in occupied Jerusalem, saying that defending al-Aqsa Mosque is an obligation for all Muslims all over the world and not only for Palestinians as it represents the first Qibla.

Qatar Charity (QC) holds the first humanitarian forum in support of Palestine from October 29 to 31 in Doha under the slogan “Palestine, we are all with you”, with the participation of a number of international, regional and local organizations and institutions.

The event aims to highlight the needs of the Palestinian people, attract support for the funding and implementation of quality humanitarian programs and projects and launch a number of strategic initiatives, according to the QC statement.

Abbas: Crux of the matter is Israel’s settlement drive

October 30, 2014

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday vowed to carry on with appeals to the UN Security Council to end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent  Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, saying the real crux of the matter lies in Israel’s craving for puffing up settlements. 

Abbas’s statement came during a speech he delivered at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah and broadcast by the official Palestinian news agency.

He vowed that the Palestinian leadership will not give up its land and will do its best to make Palestinians’ dream of establishing an independent State come true.

He said Palestine is the only occupied state in the world, adding: “The major problem lies in Israel’s thirst for setting up roots in our territories and re-settle Israelis in place of the native land owners—Palestinians. This stands in sharp contrast with the 4th Geneva Conventions and international treaties.”

At the beginning of October, the PA distributed a draft resolution to the 15 member states of the UN Security Council, ahead of formally applying to the UN body, calling for putting an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine by November 2016.

Voting by an overwhelming majority — 138 in favor to 9 against, with 41 abstentions — the General Assembly accorded Palestine non-Member Observer State status in the United Nations on November 29, 2012. 

"We do not want an intifada. We are not calling for an intifada," Abbas said in an interview with the Israeli Channel 10. "I told the people: These are our holy places and we want to keep them quiet."

Abbas said that if he was to call for an intifada, it would have been while the Gaza offensive was ongoing.

"Has Prime Minister Netanyahu already forgotten that during those 50 days, not a single bullet was fired from the West Bank?" he said.

Abbas called on the Israelis to request that the Israeli government "not miss this opportunity for peace because what surrounds us is even worse." 

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