Ex-Hamas chief hails Palestinian ‘victory’ at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa

By Ibrahim Mukhtar
ANKARA (AA) – Hamas diaspora chief Khaled Meshaal on Monday hailed Palestinian “victory” at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem following recent Israeli raids in the flashpoint site.

"The Palestinian people won this round at the Al-Aqsa Mosque after days of confrontation in which we emerged victorious,” Meshaal told the Beirut-based Global Coalition for Quds and Palestine (GCQP), a pro-Palestinian movement.

Meshaal served as Hamas political chief from 1996 until 2017 before being succeeded by incumbent leader Ismail Haniyeh.

“The battle of the last days in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque was led by a few hundred young men and women who were desperate to protect and defend it on behalf of the whole ummah (Muslim nation)” which made futile Israeli plans of temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the former Hamas chief said.

Meshaal urged Palestinians “not to wait for Jewish (religious) events and Israeli violations in order to rise up to protect Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.” He also called for “a firm and clear strategy to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque,” noting that Israel understands nothing “but the language of force.”

Tensions have been running high across the Palestinian territories since the beginning of April amid repeated Israeli arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank and daily settler incursions into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem.

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.