Qatar’s Shura council condemns Israeli practices at Al-Aqsa

By Ahmed Youssef

DOHA, Qatar (AA) – Qatar’s Shura Council on Monday condemned Israeli attacks on worshippers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem.

We express our "condemnation of the Israeli practices of storming the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacking Palestinian worshipers," the advisory council said during a weekly session cited by the state news agency QNA.

It called for swift “international action to stop repeated Israeli attacks against the brotherly Palestinian people and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Tension has mounted across the Palestinian territories since Friday when Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard and attacked worshippers, injuring hundreds.

Daily settler incursions into the flashpoint site to celebrate the week-long Jewish Passover holiday have further inflamed the situation.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.

* Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara