The Palestinian Presidency warns of the dangers of the ongoing religious war waged by the occupation and settlers

Ramallah, Jan 1 (KUNA) -- The Palestinian Presidency warned today, Tuesday, of the danger of the ongoing and escalating religious war waged by the occupation army and settlers against the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and other holy sites, stressing that these systematic assaults threaten to ignite a religious conflict with dire repercussions for the region and the world.

In a statement published by the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa), the Presidency said that the settlers’ attempt today to set fire to the Nur al-Din al-Zenki Mosque in the town of Bazaar’a, northwest of Nablus, and to write racist slogans on its walls, coinciding with the incursion by the so-called Israeli Interior Security Minister into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, demonstrate that attacks on holy sites have become a systematic policy adopted and protected by the occupation government.

It affirmed that targeting mosques and places of worship, the repeated incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and allowing the performance of Talmudic rituals in its courtyards are not mere isolated provocations, but part of a dangerous plan to impose new facts on the ground, alter the historical and legal status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, impose Israeli occupation control over it, and undermine its Islamic significance.

The Presidency also warned that the continuation of these repeated assaults, accompanied by incitement for which the occupation government bears full responsibility, is pushing matters toward this dangerous escalation.

It stressed that the entire area of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, covering 144 dunams, is exclusively an Islamic mosque, and that East Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites are an inseparable part of the occupied Palestinian territory. It emphasized that there is no legitimacy to any measures or practices aimed at changing the historical and legal status quo there.

The Presidency called on the international community and the United Nations, particularly the Security Council, to take immediate and serious action to halt these crimes and to adopt practical and effective measures binding the occupation authorities to stop their assaults on holy sites and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people and their holy sites. (End) N.Q./A.M.H.