OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Dozens of extremist Jewish settlers desecrated the Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, on the second day of the Hanukkah holiday, under tight protection from Israeli police forces.
According to Jerusalemite sources, at least 210 Jewish settlers entered the Mosque through its Maghariba Gate and toured its courtyards under police guard.
During their tours at the Islamic holy site, the settlers received lectures from rabbis about the alleged temple mount and a number of them provocatively performed Talmudic prayers, especially in the eastern area of the Mosque and at the staircase leading to the plateau of the Dome of the Rock building.
A group of settlers also gathered at the Aqsa Mosque’s al-Qattanin Gate, where they lit candles in a menorah placed at the gate’s outer side as part of Hanukah rituals that included dances and collective prayers in the area.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation police imposed movement and entry restrictions on Muslim worshipers at the Aqsa Mosque’s entrances and gates and prevented many of them from entering the holy site.
