Newspaper Reports Falsify A Rumour Of Mosque Being Converted To A Synagogue

The official Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper of the Palestinian Authority reported on Thursday that Arab Members of Israel’s Knesset parliament and activists from the Islamic movement in Israel have “uncovered an Israeli plan that intends to remove a section of Al-Aksa mosque and turn it into a synagogue.”

The PA paper quotes Abbas Zakkour from the United List in the Israeli Knesset who said in a press conference held in Ramallah by Arab MKs and representatives of the Islamic movement, that “excavations Israel is conducting on the Mughrabi ascent are nothing but a cover-up for serious digging taking place day and night underneath the mosque,” when, in fact Israel’s excavations are not taking place anywhere near the mosque.

Zakkour said that the goal behind Israel’s repair of the Mughrabi ascent is to Temple Mount is to “destroy the Islamic landmarks, endanger the foundations of Al-Aksa mosque and widen the Western Wall plaza where the Jews pray at the expense of the Islamic landmarks.”

Sheik Farid Hajj Yahya, the director of Al-Aksa Society inside Israel, stressed that “there is an Israeli conspiracy that aims to take out a section of the mosque to build a Jewish synagogue”. He said, “There are more than 31 hi- tech cameras that the Israeli authorities placed in the vicinity of the excavation site, in addition to allocating 68 million shekels for the development and widening of the Buraq plaza.”

He went on to say that “last year, the Israeli authorities opened a Jewish synagogue under the Sharia court at the Mughrabi ascent and the current digging aims to destroy the court and to add another Jewish synagogue.”

Such incitement is geared to galvanizing Islamic hatred of Israel throughout the Islamic world.

©The Bulletin 2007