OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Quds Foundation has called on the Arab and Islamic world, both at the official and popular levels, to take urgent action to confront the escalating threat of the Judaization of Aqsa Mosque. It emphasized the need for Palestinians who can travel to the Mosque and maintain a continuous presence there.
The foundation noted that Israeli police announced the reopening of Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City, based on instructions from the Israeli “Home Front Command.” This followed a closure that lasted 40 days, described as the longest in centuries, covering much of the month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holiday, during which prayers, religious retreats, and Eid prayers were prevented.
It added that the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem also announced the reopening of the Mosque to worshippers starting at dawn on Thursday without setting limits on numbers. However, Israeli forces returned less than an hour after dawn prayers, attacked worshippers, arrested individuals maintaining a presence at the site, and cleared the site to allow for settler incursions.
The foundation pointed out that hundreds of settlers entered Aqsa Mosque in groups, performing collective rituals that included singing, dancing, blowing horns, and what is known as “epic prostration,” in an attempt to impose a new reality inside the Mosque. This coincided with an extension of daily incursions to six and a half hours.
It stressed that the experience of closing and reopening Aqsa by Israeli police decision represents an additional step toward stripping the Islamic Waqf, which is affiliated with Jordan, of its authority and imposing Israeli sovereignty over the Mosque as a prelude to altering its identity.
The foundation explained that these measures are part of a broader series of policies aimed at undermining the role of the Islamic Waqf and imposing new realities on the ground in Aqsa. These include organizing and expanding settler incursions, imposing oversight on restoration work, and ultimately controlling decisions related to the opening and closing of the mosque.
It warned that Aqsa Mosque is entering a particularly dangerous phase that goes beyond previous stages, amid Israeli attempts to impose full administrative control over the site as a step toward dividing it and fully Judaizing it.
The foundation also called on Jordan, at both the official and institutional levels, to act in response to attempts to marginalize its historic role in overseeing the holy sites, warning that this role is now under existential threat.
It concluded by emphasizing that the current challenge exceeds the capacity of any single party to confront it, calling for comprehensive Arab and Islamic action, along with strengthening the Palestinian presence at Aqsa through prayer and continuous presence, as the first line of defense against plans of division and Judaization.