Alwaght- Clashes continue between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths near the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem) after the regime's troops and illegal Israeli settlers prevented Palestinians from performing their religious duties in the holy city.
According to the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi, the scuffles raged on, on Sunday, when the forces evacuated the Bab al-Amoud (Damascus) Gate of the al-Quds’ Old City for a couple of hours.
The forces set up barricades in the area, forcing the Palestinians to start trying to remove the obstacles. As the Palestinians were trying to exert their right to attend the area and perform their religious duties there, they came under fresh Israeli aggression.
At least three Palestinians were arrested, and a number of others suffered injuries during the clashes.
The situation began on Thursday, the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Hundreds of the settlers started roaming the city under Israeli forces’ protection throughout the day, chanting “death to Arabs” and preventing Palestinians from gathering for prayers.
As many as 105 Palestinians were injured during the Thursday scuffles.
Israel that calls the city its “capital,” occupied its western part in 1948 during a hugely Western-backed and -favored war. The regime occupied the Palestinian territory of the West Bank that contains the city’s eastern side during another Western-supported warfare in 1967.
Ever since the wars, Tel Aviv has been trying to tamper with the “status quo” of the al-Aqsa Mosque’s compound, which is one of Islam’s holiest sites. It has also been trying to push the Palestinians away throughout the rest of the occupied territories by setting up hundreds of illegal settlements there, and unbearably restricting the Palestinian freedom of movement.