Fifty –Four years since the crime of burning Al-Aqsa mosque… the war of Judaization continues
On the morning of the 21st of August 1969, the Australian Zionist terrorist Dennis Michael Rohan stormed into Al-Aqsa Mosque, in coordination with the occupation authorities, and set fire to its eastern wing , where the flames devoured Al-Qibli prayer hall and burned furniture, walls, ceiling, carpets, rare decorations, and all its contents of the Qur’an holy books and furniture.
as soon as the fire broke out in the Al-Qibli prayer hall, the Palestinians rushed to save Al-Aqsa before the fire destroyed it, as they started to extinguish it with their clothes, soil, and water in the wells of the mosque, despite the occupation’s attempts to prevent them from reaching it, cutting off water from the area surrounding the mosque, and deliberately obstructing the arrival of firefighting vehicles, which led to a delay in extinguishing the fires until the evening hours.
The burnt area of the mosque amounted to more than a third of its total area, as it was estimated at more than 1,500 square meters out of its 4,400 square meters, the fire caused great damage to the building of the mosque, its columns and arches, which led to the fall of its roof and two main columns with the large stone arch bearing the dome.
The occupation authorities, who claimed that Rohan was mentally ill and deported him to Australia, committed their crime without any accountability, despite the widespread international rejection, as the international community contented itself with issuing Security Council Resolution No. 271 on September 15, 1969, by a majority of 11 votes, with four countries abstaining from voting, including the United States. The resolution condemned “Israel” and considered it responsible for the fire as being the occupying power, and demanded that it to cancel all measures that would change the status of Al-Quds city, and until this day the international community has not taken any practical steps that oblige the Israeli occupation to implement this resolution or other resolutions related to the Palestinian cause.
Since the burning of the mosque 54 years ago, the fires have not stopped, but rather are getting more serious and accelerating, in terms of the intensification of settler incursions, assaults on Palestinian worshipers stationed in the mosque and keeping them away from it, in addition to the excavations, tunnels and the occupation’s attempt to control the mosque and surround it with settlement outposts.
In a statement to SANA News Agency reporter, the Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Melhem explained that targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque is a systematic policy of the occupation that falls within the framework of its plan to destroy all religious, cultural and historical monuments in Al-Quds city, which is subjected to Judaization and settlement operations to obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity, stressing that the international double standards and the lack of prosecution of the occupation based on its crimes encouraged this entity to desecrate all sanctities and continue to change the features of al-Quds. He stressed that the Palestinian people, with their steadfastness and defense of their land and sanctities, will put out all the fires that aim to undermine their existence and identity.
On his part, the official of the media office in the Islamic Jihad Movement, Dawood Shehab, stated that the terrorist Michael Rohan’s setting fire to Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969 constituted a clear declaration by the enemy that Al-Aqsa is within the targeting circle, explaining that the occupation’s continuous violations of Al-Aqsa are a continuation of that fire that the Palestinians are continuing their attempts to extinguish by escalating the resistance in defense of Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds (Jerusalem) until liberation and the end of the occupation.
Also, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Kamal Hamad, indicated that the occupation’s attempts to Judaize Al-Aqsa have never calmed down, as the occupation continues to try to control it and change its Arab and Islamic features, but the Palestinians continue steadfastly to thwart the Judaization plans, calling on the international community to take serious action to prevent the occupation from changing the legal And the historical status in Al-Aqsa Mosque and in Al-Quds city.
The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Al-Barghouti stressed the need to continue the battle to defend Al-Aqsa, which is under fierce attack from the Israeli occupation, in a failed attempt aimed at imposing a new reality based on falsifying history and civilization in the Holy City.
For his part, the Chief Justice of Palestine Mahmoud Al-Habbash affirmed that Al-Aqsa is a pure right for Muslims alone, calling on the international community to protect and rescue it from the clutches of the occupation and to stop the occupation’s Judaization plans and attempts to obliterate the mosque’s Arab and Islamic identity.
Leen Al Salman