Extremist Jewish groups enter Al-Aqsa Mosque yard

Extremist Jewish groups, under the protection of Israeli police, Sunday morning entered Al-Aqsa Mosque yard in the Old City of Jerusalem, according to witnesses. Jewish groups entered Al-Aqsa Mosque yard from Damascus Gate under the protection of Israeli police, as part of what it calls the “Foreign Tourist Program.” A helicopter flew over the mosque at low altitudes, causing loud noises to deliberately disturb people in the mosque and force them to get out. Extremist Jewish groups announced that they intend to raid Al-Aqsa Mosque today, coinciding with a convention being held in Jerusalem to hasten the building of the alleged Jewish Temple on the site of Al-Aqsa. The convention said in a statement that those attacks are part of the convention’s agenda, especially with the current events and tension in the area just as Palestine is heading to the UN for its statehood bid. The Conference stressed that any prejudice to the Islamic and Christian holy sites is a clear call for direct confrontation with those who claim to protect them. Furthermore, they stressed the need to go to the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque to defend it through intensive presence, and by taking precautions and being aware of the presence of security forces accompanying settlement of terrorist groups today and every day. Israeli police has intensified its presence on the main and subsidiary roads in the Old City of Jerusalem leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque, and is heavily inspecting passersby and stopping Palestinians to see their identification documents. In other news, Jewish settlers Sunday at dawn broke into the evacuated Homesh settlement, south of Jenin in the northern West Bank, under Israeli army protection, said security sources. Homesh was evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel’s plan to remove some settlements from the West Bank, but settlers often return to the settlement in an attempt to rebuild it. The Israeli army intensified its presence along the Jenin-Nablus main road and to the south of Jenin. Soldiers broke into Fahma, a village southwest of Jenin, and put up a checkpoint at its entrance. Furthermore, Israeli authorities Sunday gave notices to three Palestinians that their houses in two locales in the Jordan Valley area will be demolished within three days, said head of Al-Maleh village council, Aref Daraghmeh. Israel has recently been demolishing farmers’ and shepherds’ houses along with water wells and agricultural facilities in the Jordan Valley area, in an attempt to empty it of its Palestinian residents.