Palestinians won’t allow Israelis to “desecrate” Islamic and Christian
holy sites in Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on
Wednesday, referring to the tensions surrounding visits by Jews to the Temple
Mount.
“Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have
no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so
and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem,” Abbas said in his Ramallah
office during a meeting with east Jerusalem activists.
Abbas said the Palestinians were determined to prevent Israel from
passing its scheme to “divide” the Aksa Mosque compound.
“There will be no Palestinian
state without Jerusalem,” he stressed. “We are in Jerusalem and we will stay in
it to defend our Islamic and Christian holy sites. We’re not going to leave our
country.”
He praised Muslim male and female worshipers whose job it is to harass
Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount.
“Each drop of blood that was
spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood as long as it’s for the sake of Allah. Every
shahid (martyr) will be in heaven and every wounded person will be rewarded, by
Allah’s will.”
