PA governmental spokesman: The Al-Aqsa Mosque and everything in the area “is an Islamic mosque that belongs to the Muslims only”

Headline: “The [PA] Presidential Office and government condemned the occupation’s steps at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Jordan sent Israel a letter of protest”
     “The [PA] Presidential Office and transitional government yesterday [Feb. 18, 2019] strongly condemned the occupation’s steps at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its gates, and particularly the locking of the Gate of Mercy with iron chains (sic., a compound near the Gate of Mercy was closed after the Jordanian Waqf reopened it in breach of a court order; see note below)…
Official [PA] Government Spokesman Yusuf Al-Mahmoud said yesterday evening… that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque – which sits on 144 dunams (i.e., approximately 35.6 acres) that are surrounded by walls, and includes 200 structures – includes the Southern Mosque (i.e., the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself), the Dome of the Rock Mosque, the madrassas (i.e., Islamic religious schools), the dome structures, the stone platforms, and others, and everything that is connected to the walls from the outside; it is an Islamic mosque that belongs to the Muslims only.”
Click to view bulletin

February 2019 Temple Mount clashes – Muslim riots broke out on the Temple Mount starting Feb. 18, 2019, after the Israeli police closed a compound near the Gate of Mercy after the Jordanian Waqf had violated an Israeli court order by reopening the compound the previous week. The compound was ordered sealed in 2017 given that it was managed by the banned Islamic Movement in Israel and used for illegal construction and antiquities destruction.