Salah: exposing Israeli schemes against Aqsa behind decision to close foundation

Prominent Muslim leader in the 1948-occupied Palestinian lands Sheikh Raed Salah has strongly condemned on Sunday the closure of the Aqsa foundation at the hands of the Israeli occupation police, underlining that the closure was illegal.

The Israeli occupation authorities claimed that the foundation wasn’t licensed, but Salah refuted those allegations, stressing that the closure was a result of the foundation exposing a number of Israeli conspiracies against the Aqsa Mosque, including building of synagogues next to the Mosque's western walls and convert the Rahmah cemetery at the eastern wall to a public park.

Salah's remarks were made during a press conference outside the headquarters of the Aqsa Foundation on Sunday where he asserted that the decision to close the foundation was taken on the 14 August, which is just one day after the press conference held by the foundation in Jerusalem to expose the Israeli schemes against the Aqsa Mosque.

"We don’t wish to go to jail, however, we want to make it clear for those who closed the foundation that if their intention was to threaten us either to shut up or risk imprisonment, then, we would say welcome to imprisonment, because we will not be silenced and will remain faithful to the cause of  Jerusalem and expose any aggression against it," Salah said.

The Israeli occupation authorities claim that the foundation was closed because it posed a threat to stability, coexistence and security of citizens.

"I just want to ask the Israeli intelligence; and I don’t need their answer because I don't trust them being tyrants and oppressors; but nevertheless, I have all the right to question them: If the Aqsa foundation threatens peace, security and coexistence, where were you when Jewish Rabies, some months ago, issued a religious edict permitting killing Arab leaders, me in particular? Where were when groups of Israeli fanatics were searching for me to kill me? Does that not threaten peace and security.

Sheikh Salah described the Israeli talk about peace as a joke saying: "No peace can be  talked about while Gaza is under siege with the intention kill its inhabitants. [No peace can be talked about] while settlements continue to be expanded in the West Bank. [No peace can be  talked about] while Israeli efforts to Judaize Jerusalem persist day and night".

He also described the Israeli presence in Jerusalem as "an occupation presence that will end […] and Israelis have not right to a single grain of earth in the Aqsa Mosque."

Moreover, Salah emphasized that Palestinian refugees would ultimately return to their homeland, and the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital would finally be achieved.

Salah emphasised that despite the success of the Zionist institution in closing down 36 Islamic organisations a month ago in various countries under the pretext of supporting "terror"; despite that "we will remain part of the Islamic world, the Arab world the Palestinian people and we are remaining here on our land."

Finally, Salah vowed to continue the foundation's activities to pave the way for the liberation of the Aqsa Mosque, and to give good example for the next generations to follow the same track, and to continue the liberation march.