Last week in a press conference held in occupied Jerusalem, the Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage presented a documentary film titled, “Synagogues besieging the Al-Aqsa Mosque” showing video testimonies of a number of citizens and researchers who discussed settlement schemes in the Old City and the area around the Al-Aqsa (Farthest) Mosque.
According to the Palestinian Information Center, the Aqsa Foundation detailed how the Israeli occupation authority plans to encircle Al-Aqsa Mosque with more than 50 synagogues and dozens of Israeli security and military centers as a prelude to the eventual encroachment upon and possible destruction of portions of the mosque.
Sheikh Ra’ed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in the 1948 occupied lands, called on Islamic and Arab nations to mark the seventh of June, the day of Jerusalem’s fall in 1967, as an occasion to support the occupied city of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Sheikh Salah also noted the ongoing efforts to try to “paralyze the maintenance” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Tel Aviv has already ordered the removal of a large number of Palestinians living in Eastern Jerusalem in a bid to provide for more Israeli settlements despite agreeing in 2007 at the Annapolis Peace Confab to halt the expansion of the settlement activities. The Israeli occupation authority rejects any political motives behind the construction of synagogues, arguing they are only built for religious reasons.
Many people do not understand the issues being presented by the Aqsa Foundation due to unintentional ignorance about the historical significance and site layout of Al-Haram Al-Sharif, also called The Noble Sanctuary. This is the location of Al-Aqsa Mosque. International media sources frequently show images of the Dome of the Rock or Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah when discussing Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa. These buildings are not the same. The Dome of the Rock is actually toward the center of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and Al-Aqsa Mosque is at its southern boundary. To quickly become aware of the differences between the two, watch the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytsq0dokoOw.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the primary place of worship within Al-Haram Al-Sharif. The site is considered the third most important for Muslims, after the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. It is known as the first of the two Qiblas and was the place where Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was brought in Al-Isra or the night journey. Read about this in detail at http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IC0608-3086.
In January, Saudi Aramco World (www.saudiaramcoworld.com) launched a Virtual Walking Tour of Al-Haram Al-Sharif at its website. Unfortunately, the feature is not mentioned with the other virtual tours at the website’s home page. Access it directly through: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200901/a.virtual.walking.tour.al-h.... The virtual tour shows a clear map of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and offers full-color digital panoramic images of the site as well as an audio guide by Oleg Grabar, author and professor emeritus of Islamic Art and Architecture at the Institute for Advanced Study.
If you have a slow Internet connection, then refer to the less bandwidth intensive resources of The Online Guide to Al-Haram Al-Sharif at www.noblesanctuary.com. The site provides static photographs and historical information concerning Al-Haram Al-Sharif, in an easy to navigate format.
