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News ID: 86129
Publish Date : 02 January 2021 - 21:10

Zionist Regime Bans Thousands of Palestinians From Praying at Al-Aqsa

WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s police on Friday barred thousands of Palestinians from performing Friday prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the pretext of fighting COVID-19, Anadolu Agency reported.
Witnesses said that the regime’s police erected checkpoints at the entries of al-Quds’ Old City and prevented Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Ekrema Sabri condemned the occupying regime’s measures, noting that the Palestinians are being prevented under the pretext of the coronavirus. In contrast, daily tours of Zionist settlers are being organized and are protected by the occupying regime’s police.
"As long as the Palestinians wear their masks, bring their praying mats and maintain social distances, there is no justification to prevent them from entering into the mosque,” Sheikh Sabri expressed.
He also said, "We call on all Muslims to travel and pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque. We mainly call on the residents of the Old City to keep praying inside the mosque in order to undermine Israeli Judaization of the occupied West Bank.”
Meanwhile, Zionist troops attacked hundreds of Palestinian people taking part in protest rallies in the occupied West Bank against the occupying regime’s land grab policies.
On Friday, Zionist forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters, who were out on the streets in the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah City, to voice their anger at the construction of a new settlement outpost in the area.
One of the protesters was transferred to hospital after he was hit in the head with a rubber bullet and a number of others suffered breathing difficulties due to inhaling tear gas.
The rally came about a week after Zionist settlers, under the protection of the regime’s troops, erected a tent in the al-Shorfa Mountain area and began the excavation work.
Meanwhile, tens of Palestinians suffered tear gas inhalation during a similar demonstration in the village of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus City.
More than 600,000 Zionists live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds by the Zionist regime.
Emboldened by anti-Palestine policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, the occupying regime has stepped up its settlement expansion activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounces settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds "a flagrant violation under international law.”
All Zionist settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied Palestinian land.