BEIRUT, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Al-Quds International Foundation said Israeli police violated the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday morning by holding training drills inside the compound for more than two hours.
The Foundation said the move formed part of Israeli efforts to expand the number of police deployed at the site, impose control over its administration and strip the Jordanian-run Islamic Waqf Department of its authority.
In a statement, the Foundation said the drills included the repeated closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque gates for periods ranging from 15 minutes or more at each gate, as well as the evacuation of the Qibli prayer hall and the removal of worshipers. The drills also extended to other areas inside the Mosque compound.
It said Israeli police had moved beyond closing the Al-Aqsa gates under the pretext of security circumstances to treating the Mosque as a field training ground, further entrenching Israel’s claimed sovereignty over the Mosque and its prayer areas.
The Foundation noted that Israeli police had launched a recruitment campaign on May 15 through platforms affiliated with extremist Temple groups, with support from prominent rabbis who urged followers to join the police.
It said the latest drills were an extension of that campaign, which aims to expand Israel’s so-called Temple Mount police unit to more than 500 full-time officers.
Such a force would leave permanent Israeli police numbers inside the Mosque far exceeding the number of Islamic Waqf guards, with police presence multiplying further during major settler incursions, the Foundation warned.
It said the increase in police numbers, recruitment from Temple groups and field training inside the Al-Aqsa all strengthen Israel’s effort to impose its police as a de facto administration at the expense of the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem.
The Foundation warned that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is facing a critical stage as Israel continues trying to impose Israeli administration over the holy Islamic site.
It called for an official Jordanian position that goes beyond statements of condemnation and includes practical steps to protect the authority of the Islamic Waqf and empower its staff.
It also urged a unified Arab and Islamic position to preserve the Mosque’s identity and the Muslim world’s exclusive right to administer it.
The Foundation called on Arab and Islamic popular movements to make the defense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque a priority and to support Palestinian steadfastness against Judaization plans, affirming that the Palestinians had remained the first line of defense for the Al-Aqsa for decades.
The Foundation also urged Palestinians in Jerusalem, the 1948 occupied territories and the West Bank to mobilize to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and maintain a presence in and around it, stressing that their steadfastness remains the central pillar in confronting Judaization plans and defending Islamic holy sites.
