On August 21, 1969, Australian extremist Michael Dennis Rohan entered the Old City of Jerusalem at six o’clock in the morning through the Lions Gate and continued towards Bab Al-Ghanima. Filled with gasoline and kerosene.

He went to the al-Qibli prayer hall in the mosque and put his bag at the bottom of the steps of the pulpit and wet a woolen scarf with kerosene, and spread one end of it on the steps of the pulpit and the other end in a container that he filled with incendiary materials.

The fire broke out on the pulpit of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi and caused deep damage to 400 square meters of the southeastern ceiling of the al-Qibli prayer hall. The mosaics and decorations of the lead dome and two marble columns between the dome and the mihrab were also damaged.

Although the Israeli Prime Minister at the time, Golda Meir issued an immediate statement expressing her shock and deep regret over the burning of this holy place for Muslims, and announcing the formation of a committee to investigate the causes of the fire, exonerating the Israeli arena from it, the government of her state, since the first day of the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 did not stop Judaizing the bottom and perimeter of Al-Aqsa Mosque and surrounding it with settlement projects.

continuous lullaby

The researcher specializing in Islamic antiquities in Palestine, Dr. Abdel Razek Matani, said that despite the passage of 52 years since the fire was extinguished, It is still burning in Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Quds in light of the continuation of the Judaization operations that started from the Al-Mughrabi Quarter adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the early days of the occupation of the city.

Matani added – in his speech to Al Jazeera Net – that Israel does not care about Islamic monuments and sanctities, and what is happening in Jerusalem is an attempt to impose a Judaizing fait accompli, noting that records, documents and studies confirm that Judaization schemes began early and Israel benefited from British exploratory associations that studied the topography of Jerusalem and its early history. .

And “After the occupation of the city, the Al-Mughrabi Quarter was immediately destroyed, and the Israeli Ministry of Religions began to empty the dust from the buildings located below the ground and adjacent to and touching the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the western side in particular, and transformed the buildings into synagogues and designed these places according to the Zionist narrative.”

The Judaization under the ground was not limited to emptying the dust of ancient buildings; Rather, the excavations continued – according to researcher Matani – over a period of 10 years in the Umayyad palaces area and extended below the town of Silwan (neighborhood of Al-Aqsa) under the auspices of the Elad Settlement Association, which seeks and other settlement arms to Judaize the vicinity of Al-Aqsa within what it calls the “Holy Basin.”

The projects of this basin include building gardens around the walls of Jerusalem and tourist outposts in various parts of the city. Matani pointed out that there is talk of a comprehensive scheme through which the Israeli establishment will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in order to realize the novel on the ground.

The researcher did not overlook the acceleration in the construction of high-rise Jewish synagogues and facilities around Al-Aqsa, although – according to international law and the policy set by the British Mandate – the buildings that are being built should not match the height of the historic Jerusalem wall, but this was ignored.

Visual distortion

Among the high buildings is the “Synagogue of Desolation,” and through it and other buildings, Israel seeks to control the visual space in Jerusalem, so the visitor does not notice the building of the Dome of the Rock, nor the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but the synagogues and buildings with a Jewish character.

Donald Trump’s policies in support of Israel – and later normalization with Arab countries – have motivated him to persist and boast about the announcement of settlement projects and excavations, which are absent once they enter many of the Islamic and Christian landmarks in the city, according to Matani.

“The Israeli institution has transformed the underground into a living museum, and through this museum the Jewish narrative is imposed so that the visitor can enter and exit the tunnels without seeing the chapels of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and many other landmarks that emphasize the Arab, Islamic and Christian identity of Jerusalem.”

As for the researcher in settlement affairs, “Ahmed Sub Laban,” he spoke to Al Jazeera Net about the “City of David” tourist settlement project, saying that it is the project that Israel is proud to receive about one million foreign and Israeli tourists annually.

This project was built in Wadi Hilweh, south of Al-Aqsa, and the occupation is trying to expand it by building a “Givati” car park, which consists of 6 floors and also includes a commercial center.

He touched on the settlement “air bridge” project, which Israel claims is a tourist attraction; It will be 240 meters long and 30 meters high, and will start from Al-Thawri neighborhood, pass through the lands of Wadi Al-Rababa, and reach the Waqf Al-Dajani area, southwest of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

As for the “Pilgrim March Tunnel” project, the occupation aims – according to the Palestinian researcher – to connect the water spring in the town of Silwan to the Al-Buraq Wall area through a tunnel currently being built under the homes of Jerusalemites in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood of the town.

The island