LOC15:36
12:36 GMT
RAMALLAH, July 17 (KUNA) -- The Palestinian religious authorities on Thursday announced that Al-Asr (afternoon prayers) would be held inside Al-Aqsa after the Israelis removed the metal detectors and other military measures at the mosque and its vicinity. The situation has thus been back to pre-July 14.
In a press conference, the top Palestinian religious figures urged the Jerusalemites and the Palestinians in the lands occupied in 1948 to flock to Al-Aqsa to perform the afternoon prayer.
Director of the Council of Islamic Awqaf in Jerusalem Abdul-Azeem Salhab called on the Palestinians in Jerusalem and the occupied territories, and whosoever can reach Al-Aqsa to flock to the mosque, praying to Allah Al-Mighty to preserve "our Jerusalem and our Aqsa."
"Let's raise our motto today; Al-Aqsa is a red line, and let the occupiers understand it," Salhab stressed.
The call to perform Al-Asr in Al-Aqsa aims to enter the mosque en masse, after the Palestinians forced the Israeli to back down on their recent security measures taken at the mosque, completed removed today.
As the Palestinians are preparing to the enter Al-Aqsa after they were not allowed to for 14 days, they performed Al-Zuhr (noon) prayers at the mosque gates.
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Ahmad Hussein had told a meeting for the Palestinian leadership earlier today that a report by a technical committee from the Jerusalem Islamic Awqaf noted that all the Israeli measures at Al-Aqsa had been removed. (end)
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