Al quds newsletter issue no 99

PEGAWAI PBB : KEADAAN DI GAZA MENYEDIHKAN

Who are the guardians of al-Aqsa ?

124 pelajar Palestin merengkok dalam penjara di hari pertama persekolahan

Jabatan Wakaf: Ketegangan semakin membara di al-Aqsa AL-QUDS, 5 Sep 2016 (haluanpalestin) — Jabatan Wakaf di al-Quds hari ini mengeluarkan amaran tentang ketegangan yang semakin membara berikutan meningkatnya pencerobohan fanatik Yahudi ke atas Masjid al-Aqsa.

Menurut Jabatan Wakaf, seorang pegawai Jabatan Aktikuiti Zionis yang diiringi oleh pasukan polis telah menceroboh masuk Masjid al-Aqsa di waktu pagi, dan meninjau-jinjau kawasan Musolla Marwani selama lebih 10 minit.

Segerombolan 17 orang fanatik Yahudi juga menceroboh masuk masjid suci itu melalui Pintu al-Maghareeba di awal pagi, kemudian enam orang lagi menceroboh masuk pada waktu tengahari.

Tahanan mogok lapar Mahmoud Balboul kini hadapi masalah penglihatan RAMALLAH, 5 Sep 2016 (WAFA) — Keadaan kesihatan tahanan mogok lapar Mahmoud Balboul yang dikejarkan ke unit rawatan rapi di Hospital Wolfson semalam dilaporkan semakin teruk, di mana beliau kini mengalami masalah penglihatan yang berulang.

Peguam bagi Suruhanjaya Tahanan dan Bekas Tahanan Palestin, Tareq Barghout, dalam kenyataan beliau mendesak pihak penjara Zionis tidak mengambil langkah memberi makanan kepada Mahmoud secara paksa. Sebaliknya, pihak rejim harus membebaskan Mahmoud dan abangnya Muhammad dari tahanan.

Tahanan dua beradik itu melancar mogok lapar sejak lebih dua bulan lalu bagi membantah tahanan pentadbiran tanpa sebanrang pengadilan ke atas mereka. Dalam pada itu, kenyataan pertubuhan hak asasi Addameer mendedahkan bahawa beberapa orang tahanan Palestin telah meninggal dunia akibat tindakan rejim Zionis memberi mereka makan secara paksa.

Tahanan Abdul-Qader Abu al-Fahm meninggal dunia pada 11 May 1970 apabila dipaksa makan ketika mogok lapar di penjara Ashkelon. Manakala Rasem Halawah dan Ali al-Ja’fari meninggal dunia apabila dimasukkan tiub makanan ke dalam paru-paru mereka, bukan ke dalam perut. Mereka dipaksa makan pada bulan Julai 1980 ketika mogok lapar dalam penjara Nafha.Seorang lagi mangsa, Ishaq Maragha meninggal dunia apabila dipaksa makan dalam penjara Beersheba pada tahun 1983.

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Pertubuhan wanita Yahudi seru pencerobohan besar-besaran ke atas al-Aqsa

AL-QUDS, 2 Sep 2016 (PIC) — Pertubuhan wanita Yahudi berusaha mengadakan pencerobohan secara besar-besaran ke atas Masjid al-Aqsa bersempena sambutan Tahun Baharu Yahudi pada hari Ahad ini.

Pertubuhan “Woman for the Temple� itu melancarkan kempen mereka melalui media sosial.

Pagi tadi, seramai 102 orang fanatik Yahudi melakukan pencerobohan dengan diiring oleh pasukan polis bersenjata. Pasukan keselamatan khas dikerah ke pintu masuk Musolla al-Qibli bagi memberi perlindungan kepada kumpulan fanatik tersebut, yang masuk melalu Pintu al-Maghareebah.

Sepanjang bulan Ogos lalu, seramai 1,915 orang pelampau Yahudi, termasuk 116 askar yang berpakaian seragam, menceroboh masuk ke dalam al-Aqsa.

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Gua al-Kattan di kota al-Quds jadi sasaran Yahudisasi AL-QUDS, 29 Ogos 2016 (PIC) Kumpulan radikal Yahudi memperhebat usaha Yahudisasi ke atas gua semulajadi bersejarah al-Kattan, yang juga digelar Gua Sulaiman, yang terletak di Pintu al-Amudi dengan menganjurkan konsert muzik dengan harga tiket murah, lengkap dengan kemudahan pengangkutan.

Pelbagai kempen telah dilancarkan bagi menarik kehadiran pendatang Yahudi, yang akan diadakan pada 8 dan 9 September.

Rejim Zionis menggunakan berbagai cara untuk meningkatkan proses Yahudisasi di situ. Baru-baru ini sebuah parti ultra-Ortodoks mengadakan pesta di situ. Sambutan Pesta Cahaya juga diadakan di situ pada setiap tahun.

Zionis bina hotel baharu di Jabal al-Maťarif AL-QUDS, 31 Ogos 2016 (PIC) — Kementerian Pelancongan dan pihak Pentadbiran Tanah Zionis telah menganugerahkan tender kedua bagi membina sebuah hotel tujuh tingkat di di Jabal al-Maťarif (Mount Scopus).

Hotel 150 bilik itu turut mempunyai kemudian komersial, selari dengan rancangan berterusan Zionis untuk mengubah sejarah dan status kota al-Quds.

Menurut kenyataan Kementerian Pelancongan yang bertanggungjawab dalam pembinaan serta menanggung kos pemasaran, ratusan lagi bilik hotel baharu akan dibina di masa hadapan. Sebanyak enam buah hotel lengkap dengan tarikan pusat hiburan dirancang di kawasan tersebut.

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Rumah penduduk Palestin di Silwan diancam penggalian bawah tanah AL-QUDS, 29 Ogos 2016 (PIC) Rumah serta struktur bangunan di bandar Silwan mengalami keretakan teruk akibat kerja-kerja penggalian bawah tanah kawasan kejiranan penduduk Palestin.

Pusat Maklumat Wadi Hilweh dalam kenyataan mereka memberi amaran bahawa bangunan-bangunan terbabit bakal runtuh akibat peningkatan kerja-kerja membuat penggalian. Beberapa bulan lalu, keluarga Adnan Seyam terpaksa pindah dari tingkat pertama rumahnya apabila dinding roboh. Kini keretakan merebak ke tingkat dua rumah tersebut.

Bahkan struktur bangunan dan jalan di kejiranan tersebut kini jelas kelihatan senget, walaupun pihak rejim cuba menutup perkara tersebut.

Bunyi bising kerja-kerja menggali dapat didengar sepanjang masa, siang dan malam, sejak tahun 2007.

PEGAWAI PBB : KEADAAN DI GAZA MENYEDIHKAN GAZA, 6 Sept 2016 (palestinkini) – Penyelaras Kemanusiaan PBB, Robert Piper, menyifatkan keadaan kemanusiaan di Semenanjung Gaza sebagai “menyedihkan� berikutan sekatan 10 tahun oleh rejim Israel.

Piper membuat kenyataan tersebut ketika lawatannya ke Universiti Islam di Semenanjung Gaza pada hari Rabu. Israel telah mengenakan sekatan ke atas Semenanjung Gaza sejak Hamas memenangi pilihan raya Parlimen pada Januari 2006.

Keadaan bertambah buruk apabila Israel terus-menerus melakukan sekatan dan serangan kerana mereka melihat Semenanjung Gaza adalah musuh mereka. Rejim Zionis telah memotong semua bekalan tenaga termasuk bahan api dan elektrik, serta menyekat laluan keluar masuk ke semenanjung bergolak itu termasuk juga para pesakit yang memerlukan rawatan di luar. Lebih 80% penduduk Gaza hanya mengharapkan bantuan kemanusiaan untuk meneruskan kehidupan yang bertambah buruk selepas 3 kali perang yang dilancarkan regim Israel.

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124 pelajar Palestin 11 kanak-kanak al-Quds merengkok dalam penjara cedera dipukul tentera Zidi hari pertama perseko- onis lahan AL-QUDS, 28 Ogos 2016 (WAFA) Sejumlah 124 pelajar Palestin di al-Quds tidak dapat mengikuti hari pertama persekolahan mereka kerana ditangkap dan sedang merekangkok dalam penjara Zionis.

Seramai 10 daripada mereka adalah kanakkanak di bawah umur 12 tahun.

Musim baharu persekolahan bermula di seluruh Palestin termasuk Gaza hari ini.

AL-QUDS, 1 Sep 2016 (DoP) Tentera penjajah Zionis memukul 11 orang kanak-kanak Palestin dengan menggunakan senjata dan baton elektrik.

Enam daripada mereka diserang ketika sedang berjalan di Bab Hitta berdekatan Masjid al-Aqsa pada pagi Selasa.

Pagi semalam, sekumpulan lima pemain bolasepak bawah umur 15 tahun diserang di Wadi al-Joz, di utara Kota Lama al-Quds.

Semua mereka dikejarkan ke Hospital al-Maqasid dalam keadaan lebam dan luka.

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Zionis akan adakan pesta arak di atas runtuhan tapak perkuburan Islam di al-Quds AL-QUDS, 28 Ogos 2016 (PIC) — Pihak perbandaran Zionis di al-Quds mengumumkan satu pesta arak akan diadakan di atas unruthan tapak perkuburan Ma’man Allah pada hari Tabu dan Khamis depan.

Kumpulan muzik tempatan dan antarabangsa akan menyertai pesta tersebut, di mana 120 jenis arak akan disediakan di “dataran kemerdekaan� yang dibina di atas lebih 200 dunum tanah perkuburan Islam itu.

Rejim Zionis membuat perubahan besar-besaran ke atas tanah perkuburan yang mereka rampas itu, dan menukarnya sebahagian daripadanya menjadi taman awam untuk menyambut pesta perayaan besar.

Polis Zionis bantu pendatang Yahudi ceroboh masuk al-Aqsa AL-QUDS, 28 Ogos 2016 (PIC) Pasukan polis penjajah Zioins pagi tadi membenarkan beberapa gerombolan pendatang Yahudi menceroboh masuk Masjid al-Aqsa.

Tindakan provokasi pendatang Yahudi meninjau-ninjau perkarangan masjid itu diberi perlindungangan ketat oleh pasukan khas polis bersenjata. Beberapa pendatang melakukan ritual sehingga mencetus ketegangan, di mana para jamaah cuba menghalang mereka dengan melaungkan takbir Allahu Akbar.

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Who are the guardians of al-Aqsa ?

The Mourabitoun and Mourabitat are the self-assigned defenders of Islam's third holiest site.

ALQUDS - Under a leaden sky, worshippers pour out of the Lion's Gate after Friday prayers at al-Aqgated - but being banned is the worst punishment," sa Mosque compound.

Amro, clad in a pale pink hijab and black button-up From a distance, Zeina Amro watches the exodus. coat, told Al Jazeera.

Once, she was a teacher and guide inside al-Aqsa; now, she cannot legally step onto the premises of "This place is part of me, of who I am. It helps me get closer to God. This is the harshest punishment."

Islam's third holiest site.

For months, Amro and dozens of other men and women have been banned from visiting the mosque amid a crackdown by Israeli authorities on the Mourabitoun and their female equivalents, the Mourabitat. The groups, who characterise themselves as al-Aqsa's defenders, have publicly sparred with police-flanked Jewish settlers at the compound, amid fears that Israel is angling to partition the site and diminish its Islamic character. Last year, Israel outlawed the groups, blaming them for a crescendo of violence in Jerusalem that has reverberated throughout the occupied West Bank.

Before the ban, Amro, 50, spent her days praying, teaching and studying inside al-Aqsa. The compound has always been a part of her life: She grew up among its ancient stonework and distinctive mosaics and sent her four sons and two daughters to school inside its walls. Amro's husband studies the site professionally, and she used to organise tours to enlighten visitors about the compound's rich history.

Amro believes that any Muslim who visits al-Aqsa is part of the Mourabitoun or Mourabitat, but the core group, comprised of hundreds of men and women who maintain a regular presence at the compound, "I've been arrested from my home, from the com- has been in place for around five years. In the beginpound gates. I've been beaten in the face, interro- ning, Amro says, they received a small amount of funding from an NGO linked to the since-outlawed northern branch of the Islamic Movement, but they now work on a strictly volunteer basis.

“The thousands of people who just left the mosque are Mourabitoun, because they are connected to the religion and follow it� - Zeina Amro

8 "The thousands of people who just left the mosque Orly Benny Davis, an activist and member of the

are Mourabitoun, because they are connected to the religion and follow it," Amro said, gesturing towards the stream of worshippers exiting through the Lion's Gate. "But the occupation forces use the term to try to make this seem negative, problematic, outside the law. We reject that."

Amro instead lays the blame for the recent surge in violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank on the Jewish settlers who have increasingly attempted to enter the compound with the escort of armed guards.

Many Muslims fear that there is an active attempt

by Israel to change the status quo at al-Aqsa, which Jews refer to as the Temple Mount. It is viewed as one of the holiest sites in Judaism, and some Jews have openly expressed a desire to build the Third Temple on its grounds. Non-Muslim prayer has

been formally banned at the compound for centuries, with specific hours in the mornings and afternoons set aside for other visitors.

"The entry of settlers into al-Aqsa is inciteful; this is what causes problems," Amro said. "If you come in [flanked by security forces], you are coming to fight. You are coming for battle. All we do is call out 'Allahu akbar' ['God is great']."

Temple Mount movement, which advocates for Jewish prayer at the compound, told Al Jazeera that all religious groups must learn "to share the space". But in recent months, hardline right-wing Zionist groups have called for an outright takeover of al-Aqsa, offering to financially compensate Jews detained while praying at the compound and advocating to tear down al-Qibli Mosque to make way for the Third Temple. Israeli Deputy Minister Tzipi Hotovely has referred to the compound as "the centre of Israeli sovereignty".

Such developments have strengthened fears over a divided al-Aqsa, said Umm Abdullah, a Mourabitat member who spoke to Al Jazeera from under the brilliant mosaic of red, gold and green tiles inside the Dome of the Rock. And there is precedent for such a model: After the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994, Israel split the mosque between Muslims and Jews, leaving Muslims with less than half of the sacred space. Many are concerned that this is also the ultimate plan for al-Aqsa.

"They want to divide al-Aqsa between us and them. They want to take it away. But al-Aqsa is for us; it's our place," Umm Abdullah said, speaking under a pseudonym for fear of legal repercussions.

With dozens of other Mourabitat members banned from the compound, Umm Abdullah worries she could one day suffer the same fate. In the meantime, she says she will continue her regular meetings inside the Dome of the Rock, praying and reading the Quran alongside the other women there. When she witnesses Jewish settlers violating the rules around prayer in al-Aqsa, "we will kick them out or attack them", she added.

“My role in protecting al-Aqsa is my presence� - Umm Abdullah

Israeli police have defended the practice of offering escorts, citing a threat to Jewish visitors and "My role in protecting al-Aqsa is my prestourists by "provocative" members of the Mouraence. Every time we hear there is a threat, or bitoun and Mourabitat who "harass and, at times, if al-Aqsa is empty, we come and sit to show even attack visitors".

them we are here all the time," Umm Abdullah said. "Our presence is protection."

9 tread with heavy boots on the red-and-gold carpets of the prayer spaces, where shoes are not allowed, according to Islamic traditions.

"The files on the attacks by Israelis at the compound are endless," Bkerat told Al Jazeera from his office on the compound's edge, as the golden Dome of the Rock, visible through his open window, glinted in the afternoon sun.

Although religion is ostensibly at the heart of the battle over al-Aqsa, the roots of the conflict are actually much deeper. For decades, Palestinians have been living under occupation, watching as their land has been annexed, their homes destroyed, and their relatives killed or expelled from the country. Amid this backdrop, the seizure or division of one of their holiest sites would be intolerable, said Najeh Daoud Bkerat, the Jerusalem-based properties director for the Waqf, the Islamic authority that manages al-Aqsa.

Bkerat, who holds a PhD in the history of Jerusalem and teaches at al-Quds University, chronicled a list of assaults on al-Aqsa's status quo dating back decades, as Israeli forces gradually built up a security presence at the compound and increasingly restricted access for Palestinian worshippers. Among the most deadly attacks was the 1990 massacre known as Black Monday, when Israeli police killed 20 Palestinians who protested an attempt by Jewish activists to lay a cornerstone for the Third Temple inside al-Aqsa compound.

More recently, as tensions have ramped up between settler groups and Palestinian worshippers at the site, Israeli police have repeatedly stormed the compound, causing damage to al-Qibli Mosque's interior by firing "bombs, bullets and tear gas". Security forces have also

Since Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, there have been more than 1,700 cases of attacks or destruction of property at the compound, Bkerat said - in addition to countless assaults on individuals, including arrests, beatings and restraining orders.

"This has developed from initially requesting to enter to enabling them to carry out Jewish prayers and ceremonies, and develops from there to the demolition of al-Aqsa to enable the construction of the Third Temple," Bkerat said, noting that he believes Israel's crackdown against the Mourabitoun and Mourabitat is simply the latest manifestation of its larger goal to suffocate the Palestinian presence at the compound.

In this respect, the Israelis are "playing with fire", he added. “Without a solution for Palestinians in Jerusalem, there will never be silence. There will never be a broader solutionâ€? - Najeh Daoud Bkerat "Without a solution for Palestinians in Jerusalem, there will never be silence. There will never be a broader solution," Bkerat said. "The occupation attempts to make it seem like a religious war, but actually, it is a conflict over rights ‌ When you take away my rights, if you try to stop me from the right of worship in my own mosque, it means you are trying to ignite war."

10 Nitham Abu Ramouz is among those who have been prevented from worshipping at al-Aqsa.

The 33-year-old resident of Silwan, a neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, has been part of the Mourabitoun for around three years, and during that time, he has had three separate restraining orders issued against him. "[This is because] when the settlers enter al-Aqsa, we call out 'Allahu akbar,'" Abu Ramouz told Al Jazeera. He is still banned today, but he goes as close as he can, praying outside the compound gates on a regular basis.

"It is our holy place. We have to protect it from attacks. It is part of our faith and connection; it would be a disaster if we didn't protect it," Abu Ramouz said. "Despite being beaten, arrested and taken to court, we will keep protecting [al-Aqsa]."

"Presence is the most important thing, not only on Fridays, but on a daily basis. Instead of sitting at a cafe, they can come. I send my wife and children twice a week to al-Aqsa Mosque compound," he said. "We want people to be stronger and stop allowing the breaching into it. Despite how we have been and will be punished, we need to continue; it is not enough."

Meanwhile, back at the Lion's Gate, Zeina Amro says she cannot imagine her future without al-Aqsa at its heart. She acknowledged that the threat to Islam's third holiest site would not be contained by "a few women or men doing study groups", but she remains eager to get back inside to do her part, shepherding students and visitors around the compound and conveying tales of the mosque's past and present to anyone who will listen.

"It is everything to me," she added quietly. "It is my whole life."

"This is what I love," Amro said. "Al-Aqsa is part of my religion, my holy book, the Quran.

I spent so much time [here] and was raised He expressed concern about the methods Isra- here. It needs me the same way I need it. el has used in attempting to change the status quo, including offering tours to settlers and Sumber: Aljazeera visitors in which "they don't talk about al-Aqsa Mosque compound, but they talk about the Temple Mount. So they change all the landmarks and history."

Yet, despite the physical assaults by Israeli security forces on al-Aqsa over the years, members of the Mourabitoun have never turned their backs on the site, Abu Ramouz added - and he believes this has stopped the Israelis from going further.