Turkey calls on Israel to preserve status quo of Al-Aqsa Mosque

ANKARA

The raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli parliament member Itamar Ben-Gvir and radical Jewish groups under the protection of the Israeli police, as well as the attempts of these groups to worship in this area, are a “clear violation” of the status quo of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Foreign Ministry said on May 29.

“We call on the Israeli government to take the necessary measures to preserve the status quo of these holy places. Reiterating our call not to allow provocative actions that will escalate the tension in the region,”
the ministry said in a statement.

Thousands of Israeli nationalists, some of them chanting “Death to Arabs,” paraded through the heart of the main Palestinian thoroughfare in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 29, in a show of force that risked setting off a new wave of violence in the tense city.

The crowds, who were overwhelmingly young Orthodox Jewish men, were celebrating Jerusalem Day - an Israeli holiday that marks the capture of the Old City in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians see the event, which passes through the heart of the Muslim Quarter, as a provocation. Last year, the parade helped trigger an 11-day war with Gaza militants, and this year’s march drew condemnations from the Palestinians and neighboring Jordan.

Israel said it deployed thousands of police and security forces for the event, and violent scuffles between Jewish and Palestinian groups erupted inside the Old City before the parade even began.

As the march got underway, groups of Orthodox Jewish youths gathered outside Damascus Gate, waving flags, singing religious and nationalistic songs, and shouting “the Jewish nation lives” before entering the Muslim Quarter. One large group chanted “Death to Arabs,” and “Let your village burn down” before descending into the Old City.