OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, July 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat lashed out Tuesday, July 1, at the Israeli
decision to allow Israelis and foreigners into Al Aqsa mosque compound,
Islam's third holiest site.
Arafat
branded the move as a conspiracy, charging Israel of allowing extremist
Jews into the mosque to provoke Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims
worldwide.
The
Israeli media reported earlier the provocative move by the Israeli
authorities to allow some 20 groups of Israelis and foreign tourists
into Al Aqsa mosque.
The
initiative for visits came from occupied Jerusalem police chief Micky
Levy, who felt the end of the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq had produced a
"change of atmosphere" in mostly Arab east Jerusalem, the
Israeli television said.
Israeli
Arab MP Abdul Malek Dahamsheh has denounced the decision, calling it a
"provocation by Ariel Sharon, with the support of (U.S. President)
George W. Bush against Islam and Muslims."
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Israeli bulldozer demolishing the mosque
foundations
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Further
infuriating Muslims, Israeli bulldozers began destroying the foundations
of a partly-built mosque beside the Church of the Annunciation in the
city of Nazareth, a sacred Christian site.
Seven
Israeli Arabs protesting the move were arrested and two of the hundreds
of police deployed in the area were injured.
The
operation was launched following a court decision ordering the Waqf, the
body charged with managing Muslim assets, to destroy the foundations,
claiming they had been illegally constructed.
Arafat
also announced that Palestinian security authorities arrested the gunman
responsible for the shooting death of a Bulgarian construction worker in
the northern West Bank, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
Emerging
from a meeting with a Saudi official, Arafat also told reporters the
person responsible for the shooting attack "has been
arrested," but give no further details.
Radkov
Krastio, 45, was shot dead
at the wheel of his truck near Jenin in the West Bank in an attack
claimed by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades hours before it reiterated
commitment to the ceasefire declared by Fatah.
Meanwhile,
Israeli occupation forces shot dead a Palestinian near the northern West
Bank city of Tulkarem, claiming he fired his pistol at an Israeli army
roadblock, and that soldiers fired back and killed him.
This
is the second death in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since
Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad declared
a suspension of anti-Israel attacks on Sunday, June 29, which was
followed by a partial Israeli army pullout
from the northern Gaza Strip it had occupied after the outbreak of the
Intifada in September 2000.
On
Monday, June 30, a foreign immigrant worker The attack was claimed by
the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which shortly afterwards reiterated
commitment to the six-month ceasefire declared by Fatah.
