Al-Aqsa faces a new plan.. and Saturday is the gateway to incursions

The Jerusalem Governorate warned of escalating movements by "Temple" groups aimed at changing the reality of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, by moving their demands from incitement and incursions to the political and judicial tracks, foremost among them demanding permission for settlers to enter the mosque on Saturday, coinciding with the occupation's High Court considering a petition on this matter.

The Jerusalem Governorate warned of escalating movements by so-called "Temple" groups aimed at changing the reality of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, by moving their demands from incitement, incursions, and rituals to the political and judicial tracks, foremost among them demanding permission for settlers to enter the mosque on Saturday. The governorate said in a statement on Tuesday that these demands coincide with the occupation's High Court considering, on Wednesday, a petition demanding a change in the policy that prevents Jews from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Saturdays. It explained that the demand to open Al-Aqsa on Saturday comes within an organized campaign that has escalated over the past months, noting that the "Temple" groups held a conference on August 27 with the participation of political figures in the occupation government, including Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and Knesset member Amit Halevi, to demand opening the mosque to Jews on Saturdays. It added that the campaign moved on September 3 to the judicial track, by submitting a petition to the occupation's High Court to change the policy of preventing Jews from entering the mosque on this day. The governorate warned of the danger of presenting these demands under the banners of "equality" and "freedom of worship," stressing that their essence lies in an attempt to redefine the rules of entry and use inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to establish a new day for settler incursions, paving the way for turning them into a routine practice and imposing rituals and prayer there. It emphasized that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of 144 dunams, is a purely Islamic mosque, warning that any attempt to distribute days or hours of its use represents a direct infringement on the existing historical and legal status, and constitutes a dangerous gateway to imposing temporal and spatial division of the mosque. The Jerusalem Governorate called for confronting these attempts and protecting the identity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its religious and legal status, amid escalating movements aimed at imposing a new reality inside it.