Over 1,000 Jewish settlers converge on Al-Aqsa complex

By Said Amuri

JERUSALEM (AA) – More than 1,000 Israeli settlers on Sunday forced their way into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, according to a Palestinian official.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Firas al-Dibis, an official with Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Religious Endowments Authority, said Israeli police stormed the compound before the settlers and carried out protective sweeps and search.

According to al-Dibis, Israeli forces denied access to Najeh Bakirat, a scholar at the Endowments Authority, and allowed Muslim worshippers inside the mosque after seizing their IDs.

On Thursday, Knesset (Israel’s parliament) passed a controversial law that recognizes Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people”.

For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the Jewish state -- a move never recognized by the international community.