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PLO official: The Temple Mount and Jerusalem “are purely Palestinian Islamic,” Israeli security measures will lead to violence in the entire region

Headline: “Israel has no right to rule over the inner part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque or to supervise it, and the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers on the mosque has been delayed”
       “Head of the PLO Department of Refugee Affairs Zakariya Al-Agha said that Israel has no right to rule over the inner part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque or to supervise it, but rather it is the responsibility of the departments of Islamic endowments of the Jordanian Waqf.
Al-Agha said in a statement to Al-Quds… regarding the tense situation in Jerusalem and at the Al-Aqsa Mosque: ‘The residents of Jerusalem continue to defend it, as the areas of the Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) and Jerusalem are purely Palestinian Islamic, and the one who supervises them are the members of the Islamic Waqf.’… Al-Agha warned against the danger in Israel’s steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as they constitute an open call for violence and will lead to a deterioration of the situation in the entire region, and that will not stop at the borders of Palestine, as we have already seen what happened in Jordan (see note below –Ed.). The situation is dangerous, and the key to peace, stability, and security in the region lies in Palestine and the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

The mention of “Israel’s steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque” refers to Israeli security measures at the Temple Mount, including metal detectors at the entrances, following an attack there on July 14, 2017, in which 2 Israeli border police officers were murdered by 3 Israeli Arab terrorists. On July 24, 2017, Israel decided to remove the metal detectors and security cameras it had placed at the site. The PA continued to demand that all measures including inspections at the entrances be removed, and Palestinians continued to riot. On July 27, 2017, PA religious leaders declared that all Israeli measures had been removed.

Ziv Moyal, an Israeli security guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan, shot and killed a Jordanian terrorist who stabbed him with a screwdriver outside the embassy on July 23, 2017. Moyal accidentally shot and killed a bystander in the process, and took refuge in the embassy. Amid Jordanian threats to sentence him to death, the following day Israel secured his return and the return of the entire embassy staff, opened an investigation into the incident, and agreed to pay compensation to the family of the bystander. The move came the same night that Israel decided to remove the metal detectors and security cameras it had placed at the Temple Mount entrances following a terror attack there on July 14, 2017, in which three Israeli Arab terrorists murdered 2 Israeli border police officers.

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