Ramallah: Palestinians are condemning the Israeli regime’s latest land grab in occupied Jerusalem, after it announced it would expand the area of Al Buraq Wall (part of Al Haram Al Sharif) to include an area for Jewish women to pray.
Al Buraq Wall, known to Jews as the Western Wall, is still registered with the Islamic Waqf Department, but the entire plaza, known to Muslims as the Al Maghareba quarter, was destroyed by Israelis during the 1967 war.
They later illegally annexed it and turned it into an area for Jewish prayer.
The new area will be built on the ruins of the Ummayyad Palaces, which once stood at the site and were built in the 7th century. The Ummayyads were a dynasty that ruled the Muslim world during Islam’s early period.
Mixed-gender prayers are not allowed in Judaism, so a group of Israeli women campaigned for their right to pray at the wall. The Israeli regime agreed and touted the decision as a “landmark” move to introduce pluralistic prayer.
But, Palestinians don’t buy the argument. They say the latest move is yet another example of Israeli attempts to Judaise occupied Jerusalem and erase all traces of its Palestinian and Muslim heritage.
“The Israeli regime continues to flout international conventions, agreements and understandings,” Khalil Tafakji, who heads the Maps Department of the Orient House in the holy city, told Gulf News.
Jewish raids on Al Haram Al Sharif have sparked months of violence in the Occupied Territories.
Under a status quo agreement, Jews are allowed to visit the holy Muslim site but not pray there.
Over 160 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and at least 25 Israelis.
