ILLEGAL ISRAELI SETTLERS AGAIN ENTER AL-AQSA MOSQUE COMPOUND

During 2016 so far 4840 Israeli Jews, mainly illegal settlers and political extremists, have so far entered the al-Aqsa mosque in Palestine's occupied East Jerusalem. At the same time Israeli occupation tries to crush the Palestinian Murabitun group demonstrating against these 'tours', in last episode charging seven elderly members.

In April alone 1868 people (up from 1398 in April of last year) were involved in these 'tours' intended to both incite and prepare the compound for Israeli politicians' often declared plan of dividing the mosque between Muslims and Jews in the manner of the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron.

Taking April 29th as an example, 82 illegal Israeli settlers led by Israel's occupation's Jerusalem District Police Chief Moshe Adri entered al-Aqsa mosque compound under heavy occupation forces' guard.

Many of the illegal settlers and extremists involved in these 'tours' go farther, supporting the building of a new Jewish Temple in the compound beside the existing Islamic buildings or razing them altogether.

They believe that al-Aqsa is the site of the of biblical Jewish Temples, although the first direct mention of connecting them has been recorded down only in the 8th century CE and during the early Iron Age when the first temple would had been build the area was outside the walls of the small Jerusalem of the time.

UNESCO's recent declaration against Israeli occupations activities in the Aqsa mosque compound and the mention of Ibrahimi mosque and so-called 'Rachel's Tomb' as Muslim sites has been taken as a political decision by Israel and the extremists involved in the takeover attempts - when it is they who are using Judaism as a tool in their attempt to gain control of occupied East Jerusalem's most famous landmarks.

In their ideological fervour Israeli government and its supporters both going farther in the claims of lacks of Jewish connection to these sites than UNESCO did. The using of Arabic names alone is seen as 'erasing Jewish connection to Jerusalem' for example and the mention of Israel as an occupying power in al-Aqsa compound has led to the usual angry claims intended to silence those who dare to remind the world that the only state recognizing Jerusalem as undivided capital of Israel is Israel itself.

This reaction overall portrays how hard its for scientific knowledge to compete against traditional beliefs which people claim must be true simply because they have been hold for so long. 'Rachel's Tomb' is probably of Fatimid period for example, but myth loaded with religion is demanded to be given more weight science.

All Abrahamic religions in Palestine continue to revere many sites connected to biblical figures when archaeological and historical evidence show that the claims appear to be only of medieval origin, like with the 'tomb of Absalom' in Jerusalem and the 'tomb of Joseph' in Nablus.

Of course one can ask how long any religion needs to have a connection to a site to claim a justified role in that site; but then we probably should also ask the followers of a religion in exchange to access both to acknowledge existing scientific facts as they are and to drop political claims connected to the religious ones.

SOURCES:

7 elderly Palestinians indicted for 'incitement' at Aqsa
http://maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771335

Almost 5.000 settlers stormed into Al-Aqsa mosque compound since the beginning of the year
http://english.pnn.ps/…/almost-5-000-settlers-stormed-into…/

‘Fake Jewish graves in Muslim cemeteries’: UNESCO slams Israeli occupation of Palestinian sites
https://www.rt.com/…/340037-israel-unesco-palestinian-sites/

Israel slams UNESCO members for ‘erasing’ Jewish ties to Jerusalem
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-slams-unesco-members-e…/

Israeli settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/…/israeli-settlers-storm-al-aqsa-…

More than 1,800 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa in April
http://www.worldbulletin.net/…/more-than-1800-settlers-stor…

Netanyahu criticizes UNESCO resolution over al-Aqsa Mosque
http://www.presstv.ir/…/Netanyahu-condemnation-UNESCO-reso…/

Settlers storm Al-Aqsa under police protection
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160429-settlers-storm…/…

UNESCO slams Israeli occupation of Palestinian sites
http://english.pnn.ps/…/unesco-slams-israeli-occupation-of…/