Albawaba.com
Amman
Palestinian officials have said that the visit by Israeli minister Ariel Sharon to the Aqsa Mosque early Thursday, which triggered violence in Jeusalem, was “an attempt to sabbotage the peace process."
In a press release e-mailed to Albawaba.com the same day, Orient House, the PLO Headquarters in Jerusalem, said that Faisal Husseini was injured in the incident. Husseini is a member of the PLO Executive Committee, and in charge of the Jerusalem File at the PNA.
Following is full text of the press release:
“At 7:30 this morning, a delegation of Likud Knesset Members, led by Ariel Sharon, sparked major clashes during a provocative attempt to visit the third holiest site in Islam, the Haram al-Sharif. Several Palestinians have already been injured in what can be considered the most serious aggression by Israeli authorities since the opening of the tunnels in 1996.
Included in the growing list of injured is PLO Executive Committee Member Faisal Husseini who was beaten on the head by Israeli soldiers. "The violence is instigated, planned and engineered by the Israeli authorities," stated Husseini, "It is a direct attempt to derail the peace process and an attempt to inflame the whole region."
The Haram al-Sharif is a Muslim Endowment that has remained under the direct control of the Muslim Awqaf for more than fourteen centuries. The Orient House rejects such provocative visits by Israeli authorities and regards the visit as another severe blow to the peace process.
Hundreds of Israeli occupation troops have now entered the Old City of Jerusalem and have set up military blockades at all the entrances of the holy city.”
Reports have said that at least 29 Palestinians were injured in the clashes when Israeli police fired on the stone-throwing Palestinians protesting the visit of Sharon to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was quoted by AFP as saying that the visit was “a dangerous step which caused harm to the Islamic holy places,"
"The Arab and Islamic world must mobilize against such actions,” he said.
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