Occupation Forces Seriously Injure Dozens of Palestinians in Al-Aqsa Confrontations

Israeli occupation forces stormed into the Aqsa mosque compound after Friday prayers and fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at prayers. Dozens of Palestinians were injured in the confrontation including children and women. According to medical sources, several injures are serious. Chief Islamic Justice in Palestine Sheikh Taysir Tamimi was injured in the Israeli aggression and transferred to hospital for treatment.

Occupation forces have locked the gates of al-Aqsa mosque with chains and sieged hundreds of Palestinians inside the mosque.

Israeli sources said that 15 occupation soldiers were injured in the attack on Al-Aqsa. News reports from occupied Palestine said that Israeli occupation forces have been banning ambulances from reaching the injured in the compound and warned that some of the seriously injured Palestinians could bleed to death or suffocate if they were not treated quickly.

Palestinian factions in the West Bank and Gaza have warned against the gravity of the situation and demanded Muslims, Arabs, and the international community to stop the Israeli aggression on Al-Aqsa, before occupation forces commit yet another massacre in this sacred site.

There were also sporadic clashes in Ras el-Amud in the predominantly Arab eastern part of occupied Jerusalem.

The latest confrontations, in which police fired tear gas and threw stun grenades to disperse the Palestinians, came less than a week after a similar incident at the same site.

Additional clashes took place during other protests in the occupied West Bank. Some 50 people clashed with the Israeli occupation security forces near the village of Dir Nizam, northwest of Ramallah.

Some 250 Palestinians and left-wing Israeli and foreign activists clashed with the occupation security forces in three places in the Ramallah area. About 70 protests clashed with the forces near the village of Naalin and about 130 protested near the village of Bilin.

ABBAS: ISRAEL CROSSED RED LINES

Following the confrontations, the Palestinian Authority pointed a finger at Israel. According to a special statement released by the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, "Today's events were aimed at damaging the chances of resuming the peace process and Israel is crossing all the red lines – after the Arab League's monitoring committee recommended that the negotiations between the sides be resumed."

The statement also said that Abbas, who was being updated on the events in occupied Jerusalem, had called on the American administration to "stop the adventure which may ignite a religious war in the region" and demanded that the international community "take responsibility and stop the Israeli recklessness, which may have serious implications on the entire region and on peace and security in the entire world."

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina also slammed "the escalation of Israeli violence in occupied Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank aimed at sabotaging American efforts to relaunch (Israeli-Palestinian peace talks)."

US Vice President Joe Biden and Middle East envoy George Mitchell are due to visit the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders next week and local media are predicting that they will launch indirect talks between the sides as a prelude to full-fledged peace negotiations.

There were similar outbreaks at the compound last Sunday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he was placing two West Bank shrines – Ibrahimi Mosque in occupied Al-Khalil and Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque in Bethlehem - on a so-called “list of Israeli heritage sites.”

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