Ramallah: Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in occupied east Jerusalem on Sunday under the pretext that he tried to stab an Israeli policeman.
Bassem Abdul Rahman Mustafa Salah, 38, a resident of Nablus in the occupied West Bank was left to bleed to death after Israeli forces fired 10 bullets at him.
Salah’s family home in Nablus is set for demolition, as a part of the Israeli regime’s policy of collective punishment.
Salah is a father of four and had a permit for construction work in the 1948 areas. He had no previous police record.
Meanwhile, just hours after Salah’s murder, a Palestinian said to have stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli woman on a bus in west Jerusalem, fled the scene.
Clashes between Israeli occupation forces and the Palestinians were triggered by an increase in Jewish colonist raids on the Muslim holy site, Al Haram Al Sharif. According to the five-decade-old status quo, Jews are allowed to visit the holy site but not perform prayers. Growing ultra-orthodox movements within the Israeli right are seeking to expand their worshipping rights at Al Haram Al Sharif which they believe was built on the foundations of the Temple Mount, which is a holy site for Jews.
Palestinians accuse the Israeli regime of encouraging such groups to defy the status quo, pointing out that the colonists are escorted and protected by occupation soldiers.
According to Shaikh Najeh Bakeerat, a former chief of Al Haram Al Sharif and current head of Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation in occupied east Jerusalem, Israeli police encourage Israelis to actively participate in daily raids on the Muslim holy site.
A plan granting Jews organised visits has been finalised and approved. The plan allows a set number of Jews to raid the site twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.
“The plan was implemented for a few days and then Israeli occupation police allowed unlimited numbers of Jews to raid,” Bakeerat told Gulf News.
The Jerusalem Waqf Department run by Jordan, which has been traditionally tasked with managing the affairs of the holy Muslim site, has been unable to stop the raids.
Palestinians say the raids are part of an all encompassing Israeli plan to Judaise occupied Jerusalem and erase any trace of Palestinian and Muslim heritage.
“The Israeli regime is controlling all of occupied Jerusalem, including Al Haram Al Sharif,” he said. “All that is missing is for them to raise the Israeli flag on top of Al Aqsa mosque,” he said.
