Palestine leader vows legal action against Aqsa attacks

“The Palestinian leadership will be taking the necessary legal measures, at the international level, regarding the aggression of [Israeli] settlers on the al-Aqsa Mosque,” Abbas said on Saturday, adding that the Palestinian government will “not allow settlers to attack the mosque.”

The holy Islamic site has been the scene of clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli settlers and troops in the past few weeks.

At least 1,300 Israeli settlers and hundreds of soldiers have forced their way into the compound in the past ten days while thousands of Palestinian Muslims under the age of 50 have been barred from entering the site.

On Friday, Abbas called on all Palestinians to use “all means” necessary to protect the mosque from Israeli settlers, arguing that Israelis have no right to desecrate the holy compound.

Khaled Meshaal, the political bureau chief of Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, has also warned that the Tel Aviv regime is taking advantage of the current crisis in the Middle East to exert its control over the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The al-Aqsa compound, which lies in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, is a flashpoint holy site in Islam.

The location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism. The mosque is Islam’s third-holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

HK