Palestinians say Israeli calls for frequenting al-Aqsa ‘declaration of war’

Senior resistance officials made an announcement on the issue in a Sunday meeting in the Lebanese capital Beirut, where they gathered to discuss recent developments in Palestine and the region.

Leader of the Islamic Jihad Ziyad al-Nakhalah and deputy chief of Hamas Saleh al-Arouri, as well as officials from other resistance groups based in various parts of the occupied Palestine, attended the meeting in Beirut, according to a report by the Palestinian Information Center.

The resistance leaders said calls by Israelis to increase their presence in the Mosque must be confronted.

Israelis have been engaged in provocative intrusions into the Mosque, one of the holiest Muslim sites in the world located in the occupied city of al-Quds, in recent months in what many believe is a plot to divide the Mosque and to turn parts of it to a Jewish temple.

Non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited according to an agreement between Israel and Jordan following the regime’s seizure of East al-Quds in 1967.

Calls for regular presence of Jewish extremists in the al-Aqsa Mosque have increased in recent days concurrent with holidays marking the Jewish New Year.

During the Sunday meeting in Beirut, resistance leaders also reiterated the need for a tougher response to Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where violence has worsened in recent weeks, partly because of the al-Aqsa Mosque situation.

They also condemned efforts by certain Arab and Muslim governments to normalize relations with the regime.

Resistance leaders also discussed an uptick of violence in recent weeks in Ain al-Hilweh, which is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.