Al-Khalil, July 25, IRNA -- Zionist Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi has warned that suspected Israeli terrorists may well be planning to carry out "attacks" on the two most sacred Islamic shrines in East Al-Qods, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of Islam`s holiest places, coming directly in sanctity after the Sacred Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet`s Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Hanegbi said the goal of the terrorists would be to thwart implementation of the "disengagement plan," a reference to the controversial unilateral Israeli proposal to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
However, a former leader of a Jewish terrorist group which sought to bomb the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the late 1970s told the Israeli state-run radio Sunday that the purpose of any "new action" wouldn`t have anything to do with the disengagement plan."
More to the point, the Israeli newspaper Ha`aretz on Sunday quoted officials in the Israeli domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet or Shabak, as saying that there was a possibility terrorists would crash a plane on the Al-Aqsa Mosque ostensibly in order to assure its destruction.
There are a myriad of millenarian Jewish groups in Israel calling openly for the destruction of the Islamic religious edifice in Al-Qods in order to facilitate "re-building" of the Jewish temple on the site.
Messianic Jews believe the destruction of the mosque and construction of the temple would expedite the appearance of a Jewish Messiah, or redeemer, who would rule the world from Jerusalem and bring about salvation for the Jewish people.
Muslim leaders in Palestine have warned of "unpredictable ramifications" and "horrible tribulations" all over the world in case "anything happened to the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
"This is the ultimate red line. If Jewish terrorists embarked on such an act of sheer madness, they would trigger huge fires all over the world; only God knows how the fires would be extinguished," said Kamal Khatib, deputy chief of the powerful Islamic movement in the Zionist state.
He told IRNA that an attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque would be viewed as a brazen provocation of immense proportion to the world`s estimated 1,300-1,400 million Muslims.
"If such a thing happened, God forbid, it would galvanize all the world`s 1400 million Muslims, and there would be tribulations and anger all over the world."
Khatib said the Islamic movement in Israel was extremely vigilant and acting round the clock to thwart any terrorist attack against Islamic holy places in Jerusalem.
"We send thousands of people to the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) every day to make up for the barring by Israel of our people from the West Bank and Gaza Strip from accessing the mosque and we see to it that there are no loopholes in security arrangements."
Khatib called on the Muslim ummah to take strong measures "today not tomorrow" to deter the Zionists from embarking on such a step.
"If we remain silent and continue to act indifferently, then what would prevent them from doing it?"
Meanwhile, Muslim leaders in Al-Qods and throughout Palestine have warned that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was really facing a real danger.
The highest-ranking Muslim cleric in East Jerusalem, Sheikh Ikrema Sabri, told IRNA that Jewish extremists are capable of doing the unthinkable.
"We know quite well that they are conniving and coordinating their plans with the Israeli security establishment. We also know that the Israeli state uses the extremists as an supplemental tool to effect its thinly disguised goals, including the destruction of the Islamic holy places in Jerusalem."
However, Sabri warned that Israel might actually be trying to find a pretext to gain a "foothold" inside the Haram al-Sharif compound under the pretext of "ensuring the security of the place."
He cited the example of Hebron, where in 1994, following a massacre in which 29 Arab worshipers were killed by a messianic Jewish immigrant from Brooklyn, the Israeli army effectively took over the town`s historic Ibrahimi Mosque and gave the bulk of the holy place to Jewish settlers.
The "arrangement" then was done under the rubric of "ensuring security" and preventing the repetition of the massacre.
Sabri pointed out that the Zionist authorities knew the extremists "one by one" but refrains from taking action against them for political reasons.
The Israeli police now allow Jewish extremists to enter the Al- Aqsa Mosque compound despite strong opposition from the Supreme Muslim Council, which assumes administration of the holy place.
Israeli officials, including security chiefs, argue that Jews have a right to visit the mosque, which they call "Temple Mount," just like anybody else.
However, Wakf officials stress that the extremists` "visits" are not just visits but actually "inspection tours" aimed at planning ill designs against the holy place. And there is credence to this argument.
(Description of Source: Tehran IRNA (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- official state-run news agency)
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