Palestine News Network (PNN) : "Sheikh talks politics and piety as 220,000 pray in Al Aqsa, thousands more stuck at checkpoints" par Maisa Abu Ghazaleh

Sheikh talks politics and piety as 220,000 pray in Al Aqsa, thousands more stuck at checkpoints

11.09.09 - 20:27

Jerusalem / Maisa Abu Ghazaleh for PNN – At least 220 thousand Muslims attended noon prayers at East Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque on the third Friday of Ramadan.

Sheikh Yousef Abu Sneineh delivered the sermon in which he asked for renewed efforts at charity and forgiveness the last 10 days of the month-long holiday. He called for full participation in Laylat Al Qadr when families pray together throughout the night.

The Sheikh addressed the deteriorating situation in Jerusalem by saying it “will remain the ascension of our holy Prophet but our people will pay a high price through being expelled, facing seizure and high taxes, demolition and arrests.”

Of the siege on Gaza, Sheikh Abu Sneineh said, “It is humiliating to have the siege continue and our people starve without Arab and Muslim action to stop it.”

Continuing to address pertinent issues, the Sheikh talked about international calls to halt Israeli settlement. “Reduction of settlements is a farce. The issue is of land, our homeland, our identity, the refugees who remain and the displaced persons,” adding “we need unity in order to face these dangers.”

He also made mention of the thousands of political prisoners in Israeli jails.

Director of the Jerusalem Waqf, Sheikh Azzam Al Khatib, stressed during an interview with PNN that numbers during prayers exceeded 20,000. He said that at the same time Israeli forces increased barriers around Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque preventing thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank from reaching. Gaza Strip residents had no chance at all with the ongoing siege.

Cases of fainting were reported at Ramallah's Qalandiya Checkpoint as Israeli forces blocked passage to hundreds of people. A similar scene played out in several West Bank towns.

The Al Aqsa Foundation sent 200 buses through Palestinian towns and villages within Israeli boundaries to deliver worshippers to the Mosque.

Access was restricted, however, to men under the age of 50 and women under the age of 45. Israeli forces imposed mobile barriers at the gates of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Old City where they checked identification.

 





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