The Europeans for al-Quds association follows, with strong condemnation, the escalation of the Israeli occupation’s attacks and the policy of Judaization in Al-Aqsa Mosque, which coincides with the 52nd  anniversary of the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On the anniversary of the burning of the first Qibla of Muslims, the attempts of extremist settlers, with official Israeli political support, do not stop attacking the mosque and imposing Judaization on it and on the entire occupied city of Jerusalem.

This year’s anniversary coincides with the disclosure of a secret Israeli tender to build the Dung Gate bridge, which connects the Western Wall square and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which will be used to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the occupation forces and settlers.

The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed the tender, which stated, “I hereby pledge to maintain complete and absolute confidentiality of confidential information and everything related to or stemming from it and not to publish and not disclose in any way to any person or entity for an unlimited period.”

The tender was issued by the so-called Western Wall Heritage Fund, which is responsible for the Western Wall and linked to the office of the Prime Minister of the occupation.

The crime of burning the Al-Aqsa Mosque occurred on August 21, 1969, when an Australian extremist named Denis Michael Rohan, a Christian Protestant, stormed Al-Aqsa, as he cooperated with Zionist parties to carry out his terrorist act.

The fire broke out in the eastern wing of the prayer hall, located on the southern side of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The fires devoured 1,500 square meters, which represents more than a third of the area of Al-Qibli Chapel, which is 4,400 square meters. The building was badly damaged, which required years to restore it and its decoration as it was.

The fire also devoured the historical pulpit of the mosque, which Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi brought from the city of Aleppo when the Muslims recaptured Jerusalem in 1187. This beautiful pulpit had a special value, as Sultan Nur al-Din Zangi ordered its preparation for the day of the liberation of al-Aqsa.

This came within the framework of a series of measures and policies implemented by the Israeli occupation since the occupation of the city in 1948 with the aim of obliterating the Islamic civilizational identity of the city of Jerusalem, imposing Judaization on it, and dedicating the settlement presence.

Over the past decades, this policy has not stopped, but has recently escalated, until the occupation forces have repeatedly violated Al-Aqsa Mosque and violently stormed it, attacked worshipers, and allowed settlers to storm and carry out large-scale marches, as what has happened last May, which led to Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Europeans for al-Quds confirms that the anniversary of the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque is an occasion to recall the extent of the crime practiced by the Israeli authorities against the mosque and the entire city of Jerusalem, whose original inhabitants face the worst forms of racial discrimination in the modern era.

The abuse and violations that the mosque and the Jerusalemites are subjected to increases their belief in the justice of their cause and strengthen their connection and the generality of Muslims to their first Qibla and rejects any attempts to impose a temporal or spatial division on it.

On this occasion; Europeans for al-Quds salute the Jerusalemites who insist on defending their city despite Israeli oppression and terrorism and urges Muslims and the free people in the world to support them in their legitimate struggle to liberate from the occupation and to exercise their right to freedom of worship and the preservation of their sanctities.