Salah: Palestinian Authority failed to protect Al-Aqsa

(MENAFN - Arab News) The head of the northern branch of Islamic Movement inside Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, on Monday harshly slammed the Palestinian Authority (PA) for "failing to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque" in Jerusalem.

Salah said in a press statement that the PA "was racing behind peace negotiations with the Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) while conspiracies were being hatched against the holy site."

Salah also held Arab and Islamic countries responsible for "repeated intrusions by Jewish groups and Israeli forces into Al-Aqsa Mosque due to their silence and lack of support for Palestinians in their defense of the holy site."

He added that the "Israeli occupation government shoulders the utmost responsibility for any harm done to Al-Aqsa Mosque."

For his part, the deposed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday urged the PA to allow West Bank residents to resume military attacks on Israel.

He said the PA should "lift its heavy hand on the Palestinian people in the West Bank, so they can do what is necessary for the Al-Aqsa Mosque and obstruct Israel's plans to clean Jerusalem of its Palestinian, Arab and Islamic origins."

Haniyeh said recent Israeli "escalations" would not "lead us to abandon the rights of the Palestinian people, or force us to abandon our right to defend ourselves and to resist occupation."

Haniyeh also said last week's tripartite meeting in New York served as a cover for Israel's "aggression against the Palestinian people and their holy places."

He reiterated Hamas' position that Abbas "must stop negotiations and coordination with Israel." Meanwhile, member of Fatah's Central Committee Mohammad Dahlan warned of a new Intifada or uprising after the clashes in Jerusalem.

He called on all the Palestinian factions "to forget their internal problems and unite in the face of the Judaization of Jerusalem."

He stressed that "the national unity is the only response to the Israeli threats."