Israel slammed over mosque closure
But Muslims refuse to pass through metal detectors, cameras
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has condemned the Israeli authorities for closing Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday, preventing Muslims from performing their prayers there.
“Malaysia strongly denounces Israel’s closure of the Al-Aqsa mosque.
“This has denied Muslims the right to perform their Friday prayers,” he tweeted in his account, @najibrazak.
The Foreign Ministry also condemned the action and pointed out that preventing Muslim worshippers from entering the mosque was a violation of international law and norms.
This is the first time since 1969 that Muslim worshippers have been banned from performing Friday prayers at the mosque.
“The provocative action by Israel constitutes a flagrant violation of the sanctity of Islamic holy sites and a serious violation of Muslims’ right to perform their religious rituals in their holy places free from any restrictions,” said the ministry in a statement.
“The freedom to worship is a right guaranteed under international law and any violation of that right should be opposed.”
The ministry said Malaysia demanded that Israel immediately reopen the mosque to Muslim worshippers and cease actions that would change the status quo of the Islamic holy site.
Israeli officials closed the mosque, cancelling Friday prayers, following a shooting incident in its compound, which claimed the lives of three Palestinians and two Israeli police officers.
It has since been reopened and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered metal detectors installed at the gates as part of new security measures to be introduced at the holy site.
TEL AVIV
ISRAEL reopened an ultrasensitive holy site yesterday closed after an attack that killed two policemen, but Muslim worshippers are refusing to enter due to new security measures, including metal detectors and cameras.
Crowds chanted Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) as a number of initial visitors entered the Haram al-Sharif compound here, known to Jews as Temple Mount.
The flashpoint holy site includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
A call to prayer rang out from Al-Aqsa, but Muslim worshippers held midday prayers outside the site. They gathered to pray at an entrance to the compound next to the Lions’ Gate entry to the Old City.
“We reject the changes imposed by the Israeli government,” said Al-Aqsa directorSheikh Omar Kiswani.
“We will not enter through these metal detectors.”
Some women wailed and cried while telling people not to enter.
Three Arab Israeli assailants opened fire on Israeli police on Friday in Jerusalem’s Old City before fleeing to the compound, where they were shot dead.
Israeli authorities said the gunmen had come from the flashpoint holy site to carry out the attack.
Israel took the highly unusual decision of closing the mosque compound for Friday prayers, triggering anger from Muslims and Jordan, the holy site’s custodian. The site remained closed on Saturday, while parts of the Old City here were also put under lockdown.
Police said yesterday that two gates leading to the holy site had been opened, equipped with metal detectors, adding that more than 200 people had entered.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of the security measures on Saturday before departing for a trip to Paris.
Netanyahu spoke by phone with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Saturday night, a statement from Amman said. Abdullah condemned the attack, but also called on Netanyahu to reopen the compound.
Israeli ministers also gave initial approval yesterday to a bill aimed at making it more difficult for the government to hand the Palestinians parts of the city here as part of a future peace deal.
The bill, proposed by Shuli Moalem-Refaeli of the far-right Jewish Home, determines that any ceding of lands considered by Israel to be part of Jerusalem would necessitate a two-thirds majority vote in Parliament.
Meanwhile, soldiers and police on an arrest mission in the town of Nabi Salah in the occupied West Bank shot dead a Palestinian, who attempted to open fire at them early yesterday.
Palestinian security forces and family identified the suspect as Amar Tirawi, 34, from Kafr Ein, a town near Nabi Salah in the central West Bank. Another Palestinian suspect was lightly wounded and arrested.
On Saturday, a gunman targeted
a vehicle near an Israeli settlement north of Ramallah and wounded a foreign national of Palestinian descent. In a separate incident, gunshots hit a military post near Nabi Salah.
The army said Tirawi was behind both incidents.
Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency named Tirawi as Amar Halil and said he had carried out the shootings along with his fiancee, Rawan Ambar, due to their families’ refusal to accept their engagement. AFP