Ramallah: The Israeli regime’s Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan has sent a letter to Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon urging him to outlaw the Al Murabiteen activist group and treat it as an illegal and banned organisation.

Native Jerusalemites have expressed grave concern that in the near future Al Murabiteen will not only be outlawed but will also be termed a terror organisation.

Al Murabiteen are non-violent activists, primarily women, who task themselves with protecting occupied Jerusalem’s holy sites from Israeli raids and incursions. They often harass Israeli colonists in the occupied city who enter Muslim sites and provoke worshippers.

Erdan asked Ya’alon to use his powers as minister to declare Al Murabiteen group illegal in accordance with Defence Regulation 84. According to Erdan, enacting this regulation would give law enforcement forces broader powers to cope with the violent actions of the groups.

In his official letter to Ya’alon, Erdan wrote, “Those Murabiteen follow Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount [the biblical name of Al Aqsa Mosque], shouting and inciting violence, blocking the way of those visitors to the holy shrine. Their aim is to stop the Jews from going there though violence and intimidation, and I will do everything I can to stop the activities of these dangerous organisations that violate the balance on the Temple Mount.”

The Israeli news site Times of Israel reported on Tuesday that outlawing Al Murabiteen was originally proposed by the radical Israeli colonist activist Rabbi Yehudah Glick and his group, Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, which advocates universal access and prayer at Al Aqsa Mosque for Jews. Glick branded the chants of “AllahuAkbar” (God is the Greatest) by Al Murabiteen confronting the daily raids of Al Aqsa Mosque by Israeli colonists as “violence”. Glick and his group have also repeatedly complained that only one entrance to the site is available to Jews and seek unlimited access to the holy site after the removal of all Al Murabiteen.

“We cannot and should not deceive ourselves. Al Murabiteen has been a real headache not only to the Israeli colonists who daily raid Al Aqsa Mosque but also to the Israeli security forces which act with force to cause the disappearance of Murabiteen from the holy shrine,” said Mazen Abu Qalbain, an activist and spokesman for Al Murabiteen.

Israel declared all the gardens and parks of Al Aqsa Mosque as public parks and Israeli colonists used the opportunity to barge into the holy shrine daily.

Muslims believe that the 144 dunums (unit of land enclosing 1,000 square metres) of land (the entire Al Aqsa Compound) is undisputed Muslim religious property which Israel occupied and annexed in 1967 in a move which the international community does not recognise.

“Al Murabiteen in Al Aqsa Mosque do not have any kind of support from the Arab and Muslim world and Israel will surely succeed in fighting them and winning this confrontation,” said Abu Qalbain, adding that even Jordan, which is officially the custodian country of the holy shrine, assumes it is responsible for the guards of the mosque, but not responsible in any way over Al Murabiteen. “Had there been support from the Arabs and Muslims, Israel would not dare to attack Al Murabiteen and treat them in this way,” he told Gulf News.