Palestinians and Muslims worldwide on Tuesday observed the 32nd anniversary of a Zionist terrorist's torching of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam.
An Australian Jew named Denis Rohan set fire to the mosque on August 21, 1969, in hopes that the blaze would destroy the the ancient structure, paving the way for the construction of Judaism's so-called Third Temple on the site.
The Israeli government distanced itself from the crime, claiming that the perpetrator was insane and therefore couldn’t be prosecuted.
The arsonist's act is recalled every year as a landmark in the history of Israeli crimes against Muslim holy sites.
The fire gutted the mosque’s 900-year-old Saladin minbar and caused irreparable damage inside.
Palestinians at the time accused Israeli authorities of failing to exerting enough efforts to put out the blaze.
According to the pro-Hamas Palestinian Information Center, Israel even “sought to hinder Palestinian efforts to put out the fire.”
The Higher Islamic Commission in Palestine has called on Palestinians to gather at the mosque Tuesday to mark the anniversary, to pray at the holy place and to “defend it from Judaization,” according to a statement quoted in reports.
The call came amid an Israeli plan to prevent residents of the West Bank and Gaza from entering the city, which was occupied in 1967, and immediately annexed to Israel as its “eternal and undivided capital.”
The international community has never recognized Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital, and the related UN resolutions stipulate that the city is occupied Arab land from which Israel should withdraw its troops.
For their part, the Islamic and Nationalist Forces, a coalition of 14 Palestinian movements steering the Intifada, issued on Monday a statement calling on the Arabs and Muslims to save the city from "Israeli aggression" and "plots to distort the Arab culture in Jerusalem."
“Jerusalem, with its Muslim and Christian holy sites, its Arab and Muslim deep history, and the threats it is facing…has become a symbol of our struggle to defeat the occupation,” said the statement.
In 1996, Israel secretly opened a tunnel under the mosque, which Muslim archaeologists say could undermine the foundations of the old structure, according to PIC.
The opening of the tunnel sparked bloody clashes and street battles that left 18 Israelis and up to 65 Palestinians dead.
At the Camp David talks last year, then Israeli premier Ehud Barak said Israeli was ready to “cede” occupied east Jerusalem to the Palestinians, provided that Israel retained sovereignty beneath the holy sites, apparently to continue ongoing excavations.
Last month, members of the so-called “Temple Mount Faithful” symbolically laid a foundation stone for the Third Temple outside Bab Al Maghareba gate of the Haram Al Sharif.
However, the Intifada leaders said that the Israelis had so far failed in their attempt to destroy the centuries-old mosque and build their synagogue in its place – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
