Issue No. 103
YAYASAN ALQUDS MALAYSIA
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News Palestinian, 2 Israelis killed in Al-Quds anti-occupation shooting
The Palestinian Information Center A Palestinian youth and two Israelis were killed in an anti-occupation shooting attack in Occupied alQuds on Sunday morning. An Israeli occupation policeman and a 60-year-old settler were killed and five injured after a Palestinian young man carried out an anti-occupation shooting attack near a police station next to the Ammunition Hill light rail station in Occupied al-Quds. According to a police report released shortly after the incident, the anti-occupation youth opened fire from within his vehicle on Israeli police officers stationed opposite police headquarters. The youth—later identified by Israeli sources as 39-year-old Mousabah Abu Sabih from the East alQuds neighborhood of Silwan—then fled the scene, continuing his attack as he shot two Israeli settlers driving in the area. He then proceeded in the direction of Sheikh Jarrah area where he stopped his vehicle and began shooting at riot police pursuing him on motorbikes. One of the officers was critically injured during the shootout and died from his wounds shortly thereafter. Another policeman was also lightly wounded in the fire exchange. Israel Border Police reportedly spotted the anti-occupation youth before shooting him dead. Israeli occupation forces began conducting searches for additional anti-occupation suspects, setting up a number of roadblocks in the area. Israel’s Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan arrived at the scene and spoke with the press, claiming there was no forewarning for this attack. “But we have said the whole time that because of the increase in the amount of incitement many will plan lone-wolf attacks,” he further claimed. Erdan then went on to attribute responsibility for the anti-occupation attack to Facebook. “In my opinion, Facebook and other social media sites bear direct responsibility. It was two or three weeks ago that Facebook reopened Hamas's pages following Palestinian public pressure. In my eyes, it's scandalous." Meanwhile, Hamas said in a statement that the attack was "a natural reaction to the continued crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinians and Masjid al-Aqsa." A 30-day gag order was imposed by the Israeli occupation police on the incident.
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Muslim leaders warn Jerusalem's 'Al-Aqsa is in Danger'
Anadolu Agency
marks the Jewish new year, restrictions on men under 50 entering the mosque caused clashes in JerusaMore than 500 Muslim leaders and clerics from lem and the occupied West Bank. 30 countries met in Istanbul on Friday to warn that Masjid Al-Aqsa, Islam's third holiest site that is lo- A month-long series of Jewish holidays that start with Rosh Hashanah have in the past also caused heightcated in al-Quds, was in danger. ened tensions as many Palestinians object to the inThe religious and political leaders, representing at creased numbers of Jewish visitors to the Al-Aqsa least 50 civil society organizations and political par- compound, which is revered by both Muslims and ties in their countries assembled at the 8th Islamic Jews, who know it as the Temple Mount. Countries’ Opinion Leaders Forum, titled "Al-Aqsa is in Danger" in Istanbul, organized by the Ar- Palestinians have in the past accused Israel of altering the status quo, a balance of prayer and visiting ab-Turkish Relations Center. rights that reserves the right to worship at the site Yasin Aktay, vice chair of the ruling Justice and for Muslims, through its policing of Al-Aqsa and the Development (AK) Party, represented Turkey as he surrounding area. spoke at the opening of the forum, saying: “Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is in danger means humanity is in dan- The tension caused by restrictions on entry to Al-Aqger, because Al-Quds gave us an example how peo- sa last year were followed by a period of violence ple [from different sects] coexisted peacefully in an that has seen at least 235 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, mostly during clashes or alleged attacks. ideal way.” Abderrazak Makri, president of the Movement of Society for Peace in Algeria, claimed: “There would be no success in any Islamic country without working on Palestine” and blamed foreign powers that “do not want us to become united, be developed. That is why we should be united to work for Al-Aqsa.”
“You know that the bad coup, the failed coup in Turkey was aiming to weaken Turkey because Turkey is taking a strong role on Palestine; because they wanted to stop Turkey supporting Palestine,” Makri added.
The clerics meet once a year in Turkey to discuss solutions for conflicts that challenge Muslim counDuring last year's Rosh Hashanah holiday, which tries. The two-day forum ends Saturday.
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News
IOA to build new big synagogue in Old City of Al-Quds The Palestinian Information Center The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has finished all preparations, in cooperation with unnamed Jewish groups, to build a big synagogue called the Jewel of Israel in the heart of the Old City of al-Quds. It will be located about 200 meters away from the western side of Masjid al-Aqsa. According to the Palestinian news website Qpress, the new synagogue project will cost around 48 million shekels, mostly from the Israeli government and the rest from wealthy Jews. The synagogue will be composed of six floors, two underground, and will be built on the ruins of an Islamic historical site dating back to the Ottoman and Mamluk eras. The project is part of a large-scale Israeli plan aimed at planting religious Jewish structures in the heart of Old Jerusalem to change the Islamic and Arab identity of the holy city. It will be the second massive Jewish edifice in the Old City after the Hurva synagogue, which was built in 2010.
2155 Palestinian children arrested within a year The Palestinian Information Center Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested since the outbreak of Jerusalem Intifada in October 2015 nearly 2,155 Palestinian children and minors, a rights activist revealed. The researcher in prisoners’ affairs Riyad al-Ashqar has documented in a new report the arrest of 8,000 Palestinians over the past year, the quarter of whom were children. Some of the detained minors were less than ten years old and some of them were injured during their detention, he pointed out. Several girls were also among the detainees, he said. In an unprecedented measure, Israeli authorities turned a number of the detained minors to administrative detention. Al-Ashqar underlined that a number of detained minors were subjected to severe beating, torture, ill-treatment, and tough investigation in flagrant violation of the international law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 15 detained minors were shot and injured by the IOF during their arrest for allegedly planning to carry out stabbing attacks, the activist said. According to the activist, Israeli authorities opened two new sections in Ofer prison allocated for minors due to the HaSharon prison overcrowding as Israeli arrests of Palestinian minors have notably increased over the past five years. There are currently 400 Palestinian children and minors held in Israeli jails and detention centers amid very difficult and inhuman conditions.
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Israel enabling ‘largest private settlement’ in history of East Al-Quds
Middle East Monitor The Israeli government is directly enabling the largest private settlement compound in the history of occupied East Jerusalem, two NGOs warned this week. The report, “Broken Trust: State Involvement in Private Settlement in Batan Al-Hawa, Silwan”, has been jointly released by Peace Now and Ir Amim, and sets out to detail “settlement planning in one of the most sensitive and volatile areas in Jerusalem” – Batan Al-Hawa in Silwan. According to the NGOs, the Ateret Cohanim settler organisation has been working since 2001 to transform Batan Al-Hawa into a large Israeli settlement “through sales without tender, questionable acquisition of Palestinian properties” and “forced eviction and removal of Palestinian families.”If successful, the report states, “Batan Al-Hawa will become the largest settlement compound in a Palestinian neighbourhood in the Historic Basin of the Old City” and significantly “tightening the emerging ring of settlements around the Old City.” Meanwhile, documents obtained by a freedom of information request have confirmed the role of settler organisation ELAD in organising the justice ministry’s intervention in and eventual overturning of a 2015 decision to limit the scope of the Kedem Compound in Silwan. According to Ir Amim, the settler group plans “a five-story structure over more than 16,000 square metres in the old Givati Parking Lot in Silwan, just opposite the ELAD managed City of David and about 20 metres from the walls of the Old City.”
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News
Musolla Al-Marwani.. Serangan- Serangan Israel Berjaya Mendedahkan Niat Sebenar Mereka
Pusat Media Palestin
Pihak- pihak berwajib Jurusalem berpendapat bahawa serangan dan pencerobohan yang dilakukan oleh tentera Israel dengan kerjasama Pihak Antikuiti mereka, merupakan satu perkara berbahaya. Ini kerana melalui serangan itu, niat mereka untuk menyasarkan masjid nampak jelas dalam tindakan mereka. Perkara ini dapat dilihat melalui pencerobohan ke atas Musolla Al-Marwani baru- baru ini. Jabatan Wakaf Islam telah memberi amaran akan kesan- kesan buruk berpunca dari serangan ini. Antaranya ialah menambahkan tekanan dan ketegangan di Masjid Al-Aqsa, kerana ianya bertentangan dengan janji Israel untuk tidak merosakkan kesan- kesan sejarah di situ.
Masuk campur pihak Israel dan penyebaran khabar angin
Kenyataan Israel bahawa masuk campur mereka dalam urusan masjid adalah untuk memperbaiki kerosakan pada bumbung Musolla Al-Marwani, tidak berjaya meyakinkan penduduk Palestin. Pengarah Masjid Al-Aqsa, Syeikh Umar AlKiswani berkata sebenarnya tidak terdapat sebarang retakan baru di Musolla Al-Marwani, tetapi pihak Israel sengaja menyebarkan khabar angin tidak benar tentang perkara itu. Ini dilakukan untuk mengunci pintu musolla dari orang ramai. Beliau menegaskan bahawa Israel tidak berhak sama sekali masuk campur dalm urusan masjid. Katanya: “projek- projek baik pulih masjid mer-
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upakan urusan khas jawatankuasa masjid, dan pihak luar tidak berhak untuk campur tangan”. Beliau berpendapat bahawa campur tangan Israel ini sebenarnya menampakkan niat mereka untuk mengambil alih masjid dan menukar status quo pemilikan masjid dari milik orang Islam kepada mereka.
Tambahnya lagi, musolla itu dinamakan “kandang Solomon” kerana ia telah dijadikan kandang kuda ketika mana mereka menakluk Jurusalem. Namun kemudiannya ia digunakan sebagai tempat tinggal pelajar- pelajar dan pernah juga digunakan sebagai stor masjid.
Menurut Al-Kiswani, sesungguhnya Israel telah menghalang lebih dari 27 projek baik pulih di Masjid AL-Aqsa sejak 17 tahun lalu. Diantaranya termasuklah, projek baik pulih lampu, sistem air, dan baik pulih Musolla Al-Marwani. Tambahnya: “ Musolla Al-Marwani kini memerlukan baik pulih segera terhadap beberapa kerosakan yang disebabklan oleh penggalian bawah tanah Israel. Justeru, kami telah mengemukakan aduan kepada Kementerian Wakaf dan Hal Ehwal Agama di Jordan dan meminta mereka memantau perlakuan Israel ini yang meneruskan penggalian mereka, menghalang penyelenggaraan masjid dan masuk dalam urusan masjid”.
Musolla ini pernah ditutup kira-kira pada tahun 1996 dan dipenuhi dengan tanah. Oleh itu pihak Israel membuat khabar angina bahawa ia mengalami kerosakan di beberapa bahagian dan akan roboh tak lama lagi. Ini dilakukan untuk menghalang orang ramai dari memasukinya, dan mengahalang Jawatankuasa baik pulih dari melakukan penyelenggaraan. Kemudiannya, pemimpin gerakan Islam ketika itu, Syeikh Raed Solah mengetuai projek baik pulih dan kemudian membuka semula musolla itu kepada orang ramai dalam tempoh kurang dari seminggu. Al-Jalad berkata, halangan untuk melakukan baik pulih adalah sesuatu yang membahayakan. Ini kerana musolla memerlukan baik pulih setiap kali setelah musim sejuk kerana ia biasanya dimasuki air hujan dan boleh menyebabkan keretakan.
Menghidupkan semula musolla pada tahun Halangan terhadap kerja- kerja baik pulih 90-an
Penggalian yang berterusan Pengkaji sejarah CIOBRS, Ihab Al-Jalad menegaskan bahawa Israel masih lagi meneruskan penggalian mereka di bawah tanah Musolla Al-Marwani sehingga ke hari ini, walaupun setelah diberitahu yang musolla itu merupakan bangunan lama yang berasal dari zaman Umawi lagi.
Termasuk dalam sasaran Menurut laporan yang dikeluarkan oleh CIOBRS, kerja- kerja baik pulih secara besar- besaran pada tahun 90-an dulu di Musolla Al-Marwani memaksa mereka mengeluarkan bertan- tan tanah dari tempat kerja dan memindahkannya keluar dari Masjid Al-Aqsa. Kemudian, pihak Israel telah menyita batu- batu dan tanah tersebut lalu memindahkannya ke bawah penjagaan mereka. Selepas itu mereka melakukan penapisan ke atasnya dan memilih tanah- tanah dan batu- batu tertentu untuk projek mereka. Proses ini dinamakan “penapisan batu dan tanah Bukit Haikal”. Dikatakan bahwa Musolla Al-Marwani yang mempunyai keluasan kira- kira 4 ekar, dan boleh memuatkan 5 ribu orang dalam satu- satu masa itu, bersambung dengan Jurusalem di bahagian tembok arah selatannya.
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News OCHA: Israel demolishes 46 Palestinian facilities within two weeks
The Palestinian Information Center
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) demolished over the past two weeks nearly 46 Palestinian-owned facilities in occupied Al-quds and West Bank due to “the lack of Israeli-issued building permits,” OCHA revealed Friday. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed in its protection of civilians weekly report affirmed that 46 Palestinian facilities were demolished between September 20 and October 3. The 46 demolished facilities include 16 facilities which had been provided by European Union as humanitarian assistance in response to previous demolitions, including one classroom and playground in the Abu Nuwar Bedouin community (Jerusalem governorate). As a result, 56 Palestinians, including 25 children, were displaced and 185 people were otherwise affected. Two-thirds of these structures were demolished between 26 and 28 September in nine Palestinian communities. The largest single incident took place in Khirbet Tell el Himma (Tubas), while 10 of the 17 demolition incidents took place in occupied Al-quds. On 23, 29 and 30 September, a total of 14 Palestinian families (73 people, including 30 children) from Humsa al Bqai’a community in the northern Jordan Valley (Tubas) were temporarily displaced from their homes, for five hours each day, to make way for Israeli military training in the area. Meanwhile, the Israeli Civil Administration delivered nine demolition orders against nine buildings in Isawiya area of East Al-Quds for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, threatening to displace 40 Palestinian families, according to the report. Another ten stop working orders were issued in Khirbet ad Deir (Bethlehem), Khallet al Hajar (al-Khalil), and Al Funduq and Jinsafut villages, both in Qalqiliya.
Al-Quds City - Palestine -
One of the oldest cities in the world. 839 Thousent people living in al-Quds.
A l-Quds, as a holy city for Islam and Christianity, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Archaeological excavations show the history of the city be-
gan over 5,000 years ago. Among its 220 historic monuments are Masjid Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, built in the seventh century, which stand as magnificent pieces of architecture. It is also home to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which houses Christ’s tomb. The city has been known by different names through its history: Urusalim, Jebus, Aelia Capitolina, the City, Beit Al-Maqdis, and Al-Quds. Jerusalem’s sites and long history present an exceptional testimony to vanished civilizations: the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mameluk, Ottoman periods. The old city of al-Quds and its walls is one of the best-preserved medieval Islamic cities in the world. It is divided into four main quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Armenian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter. The old city has been home to many diverse cultures, which are reflected in the architecture and planning of the city and its sacred buildings, streets, markets, and residential quarters. Today, Jerusalem’s living traditions continue, making the city the heart of human history. In 1982, al-Quds was inscribed on the list of the cities of World Heritage in Danger by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Jerusalemites are most welcoming and your stay in the city will be enriched by meeting the various Palestinian communities of al-Quds.
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Report
How to secure Muslims’ rights at Masjid al-Aqsa
By Ben White - Aljazeera
praying there, Israeli activists enjoy police escort when they venture into the compound.
After a summer of simmering tensions at al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a familiar flash point in According to Arafeh, the “growing incursions into Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem could boil over al-Aqsa compound” have the potential “to trigger widespread violence and bloodshed [similar to] late once again, analysts warn. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to the “Through their unilateral attempts to change the compound in 2000, which led to the second Intifada.” internationally recognised status quo, the nationalist-religious Temple Mount activists and In the past six months, there have been several points the Israeli government that supports them pose of friction. In April, a number of Palestinian worshipseveral dangers at the local, regional and interna- pers were injured by Israeli forces, as some 1,000 tional levels,” Nur Arafeh, a policy fellow with Jewish visitors entered the compound during PassAl-Shabaka: the Palestinian policy network, told over. Al Jazeera. A more serious escalation occurred during RamaJewish extremist groups, who refer to the site as dan in June, when Israeli authorities were accused the Temple Mount, have repeatedly called for by Waqf officials of “preventing worshippers from the Israeli government to exercise control over bringing into the mosque special foods used for al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Their increased in- breaking the daily fast during the holiday.” cursions into the mosque compound have triggered Palestinian protests across the occupied The situation was exacerbated when Israel initially reWest Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the versed a long-standing ban on the entry of non-MusGaza Strip. Although formally banned from lims during the last 10 days of Ramadan. Visits by
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Israeli settlers and other groups sparked confronta- ing among Palestinians that Israel is changing the tions that saw dozens of Palestinians injured in the status quo in the area, is backed up by police data”. compound. “Netanyahu’s claims of Palestinian incitement are disingenuous,” Arafeh told Al Jazeera. “Contrary Since then, Israeli police have arrested Waqf em- to the claims that his government has no intention ployees in a number of separate incidents, while of altering things, members of the Likud Party and just last week, Israeli occupation authorities banned the government have been campaigning to change a senior Fatah official from entering the compound the status quo in the al-Aqsa compound.” for six months. In addition, she added, “there is plenty of evidence At the end of August - a month when some 2,000 that groups enjoying government support plan Jewish Israelis visited the compound, including to destroy the mosque and build a Temple in its 400 on one day, a record - Waqf head Sheikh Az- place” - right-wing Israeli Jews whose ties with Iszam Al-Khatib renewed warnings that Israel was raeli officials are “strong and deepening”. trying to impose a new status quo on the ground. Israel’s Minister of Culture, Miri Regev, has chaired Mustafa Abu Sway, holder of the integral chair for more than a dozen debates on the subject of allowthe study of Imam Al-Ghazali’s work at the Holy ing Jews to pray in the compound, a change to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Quds University, told Al status quo backed by dozens of MKs in May 2014. Jazeera that there has been a definite increase in Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, meanwhile, has Israeli restrictions on the work of the Waqf. “Mus- previously called for a Third Temple to be built. lim worshippers are systematically harassed at all gates,” he said. “There is a blacklist of some 62 In April, a Likud parliamentarian attended an event Muslim women who are prevented from entering in Jerusalem where speakers called for the destructhe mosque, and an unknown number of men who tion of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, suffer from the same policy.” and the construction of a Temple. The Waqf was recently prevented from doing main- This was reportedly the first time a sitting member tenance work inside the Dome of the Rock, Abu of Knesset had taken part in the annual event. Sway noted. “The list goes on and on,” he added. Earlier this year, an International Crisis Group report confirmed - contrary to the rhetoric of the Netanyahu government at the time - that the primary trigger for unrest in Jerusalem last September was the Israeli occupation authorities’ violations of a 2014 agreement with Jordan.
“Over the last several weeks there has been an inflammation of dormant tensions and violence in Jerusalem, and in response, cases of collective punishment against Palestinians in East Jerusalem”, Betty Herschman, director of international relations and advocacy at Ir Amim, told Al Jazeera.
Specifically, Israel reinstated “age and gender limitations on access for Muslim worshippers”, in addition to banning “non-profits organising Islamic activists [mourabitoun] at the site”.
“Given this context,” she continued, “and the established correlation between use of collective restrictions on Muslim access to the Haram al-Sharif and upticks in violence in East Jerusalem, it is particularly critical that security authorities refrain from applying collective restrictions during the upcoming Jewish high holidays.” For Abu Sway, meanwhile, there’s only one way to guarantee Muslims’ rights at al-Aqsa Mosque compound: “Nothing short of the end of the Israeli occupation.”
Recent years have seen both a marked increase in the number of Jewish visitors to the compound - the 2014-15 figures were almost double that of 2009 - and an increase in the instances of access restrictions for Muslim worshippers. Thus, as Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh put it last year, “the feel-