Alwaght- Mahmud Abbas, leader of Fatah party of Palestine, on Friday called on his people to prevent Israeli settlers from entering Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque and use "all means" to protect the site.
His comments came days after Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Zionists visiting the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site.
"It is not enough to say the settlers came, but they must be barred from entering the compound by any means. This is our Aqsa... and they have no right to enter it and desecrate it," Abbas said.
The Fatah leader was speaking at a conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah after a spate of clashes this week since a Monday confrontation between Palestinian youths and Israeli police.
Abbas insisted that defending Al-Aqsa was tantamount to defend Al-Quds, which the Palestinians are demanding as the capital of their future state.
"Al-Quds is the jewel in the crown and it is the eternal capital of the Palestinian state. Without it, there will not be a state," he said.
"It is important for the Palestinians to be united in order to protect Al-Quds," he added.
Earlier on Friday, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated at Al-Aqsa compound which organized by the Islamist Hamas movement.
