Israeli Police Force Muslims to Leave Al-Aqsa’s Bab al-Rahma Prayer Area
This is according to officials of the Islamic Waqf in charge of the Muslim holy places in occupied Jerusalem.
They said police began this morning to force the Muslim worshippers at Bab al-Rahma to leave it and clear the area, threatening to arrest anyone who remains there or to ban them from entering the walled Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for several weeks or months.
The officials said fanatic Jewish groups, who called on their followers to step up their presence at the Muslim holy place on the occasion of the Jewish Sukkot holiday, started this morning their provocative tour of the Mosque under heavy police protection.
A few days ago, Israeli police broke into Bab al-Rahma prayer area and seized wooden separators and threatened people in the area not to film the process or else they would be arrested.
Tension escalated a few months ago over this section of the mosque compound when Israeli police closed its gate with chains and locks, a step that was perceived by Palestinian Muslims as the beginning of the process of dividing the mosque compound by allocating its eastern section of the closed Bab al-Rahma gate, also known as the Golden Gate, for Jewish worship.
Muslims insist that Al-Aqsa Mosque compound with its 144-dunum area is a solely Muslim worship area.
Israeli officials, mainly the right-wing Public Security minister, Gilad Erdan, started talking about breaking the agreed-on status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque by allowing Jews to pray at the premise, a step that has provoked widespread Palestinian, Arab and Muslim condemnation and warning of outbreak of religious war if it is carried out.
Source: WAFA
