NNA -nbsp;Israelinbsp;settlers and politicians stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday morning, ahead of thousands taking to the streets of Jerusalem for a divisive annualnbsp;ultra-nationalist march.nbsp;
Security officers cleared the Qibli prayer hall ofnbsp;Palestiniannbsp;worshippers following the Fajr dawn prayers, according to sources cited bynbsp;Palestinian media.nbsp;
At 7am local time, the Moroccan Gate (Bab al-Magharib) to Al-Aqsa#39;s courtyards was opened and hundreds of settlers stormednbsp;the holy site.
Several lawmakers were in there ranks, includingnbsp;Negev and Galilee Development Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, who belongs to the far-right Jewish Power party.nbsp;
Three MPs in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu#39;s Likudnbsp;party,nbsp;Dan Illouz,nbsp;Amit Halevinbsp;and Ariel Kallner,nbsp;also partook.nbsp;
Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic site where unsolicited visits, prayers and rituals by non-Muslims are forbidden, according to decades-long international agreements.nbsp;
Israeli groups, in coordination with authorities, have long violated the delicate arrangement andnbsp;facilitated raidsnbsp;of the site and performed prayers and religious rituals.nbsp;
Settlers who stormed the mosque on Thursday were reportedly given a tour of the courtyard before performing Talmudic rituals near the Dome of the Rock.
The hill on which Al-Aqsa Mosque sits is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and is the site of the Jewish Temple destroyed by the Romans in the first century.
Though many Jews believe it is forbidden to stand upon it, and the Status Quo agreement states Jewish prayer must also be avoided, far-right Israelis, most often settlers, have increasingly flouted these rules backed by Israeli authorities.–agencies
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