Israeli Forces Raid Al-Aqsa During Ramadan

Discussion with Professor Adnan Husain, Chairman of Religious studies at Queens University in Kingston Ontario, on the recent Israeli raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque.

(from Episode 1331)

By Dalia Hatuqa and Alia Chughtai

Published On 20 Apr 2022

20 Apr 2022

Tensions have again flared in recent days after Israeli police entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as worshippers gathered for early morning prayers.

democracy now

At least 19 were injured around occupied Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday after a violent crackdown by Israeli police cleared out worshipers from the compound. It was the second raid since Friday, when Israeli police used rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas on unarmed Palestinians, resulting in the arrest of more than 300 and at least 158 injuries. This latest violence in Jerusalem comes as the holy days of Ramadan and Passover overlap. Meanwhile, Western media has been describing the attacks as “clashes” and using other obfuscatory language “as if there is no imbalance of power here, as if there is no nuclear state using its rubber-coated bullets and tear gas against worshipers at a mosque,” says Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd.

Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem with medics reporting at least 158 Palestinians injured in the ensuing violence as hundreds were detained.

The Islamic endowment that runs the site said Israeli police entered in force before dawn on Friday, as thousands of worshippers were gathered at the mosque for early morning prayers.

Videos circulating online showed Palestinians throwing rocks and police firing tear gas and stun grenades. Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas.

It was the most serious violence at the holy site in nearly a year. Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a provocation.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it evacuated the majority of the wounded to hospitals. The endowment said one of the guards at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber-coated bullet.

The Palestinian Red Crescent added Israeli forces hindered the arrival of ambulances and paramedics to the mosque, as Palestinian media said dozens of injured worshippers remained trapped inside the compound.

Israeli police said they arrested at least 300 Palestinians during the latest escalation. However, Palestinian sources put the number at 400. Three officers were wounded from “massive stone-throwing”, it said.

Israeli police said they entered the compound, the third holiest site in Islam and revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, to break up a “violent” crowd that remained at the end of the morning prayers.

They went in “to disperse and push back” the crowd after a group of Palestinians began throwing rocks towards the nearby Jewish prayer space of the Western Wall.

But Palestinian cameraman Rami al-Khatib, who witnessed the raid, said: ”They [Israeli forces] brutally emptied the compound. They were attacking the mosque staff, normal people, elders, young people.

“There were many injured people, they fired rubber bullets inside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. They were beating everyone, even the paramedics, they hit them,” said al-Khatib, who suffered a broken hand.

Neighbouring Jordan, which has custodianship over the holy site, and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement accusing Israel of “a dangerous and condemnable escalation that threatens to explode the situation”. Egypt also condemned the “Israeli raid”.

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