Itongadol.- While the Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday evening that his goal is to achieve permanent peace with Israel, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have called for the launch of the third intifada against Israel.
Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing Izaddin Kassam brigades, has urged PA Arabs to wage a third intifada against Israel in response to Israeli efforts to “judaize Jerusalem," especially the Temple Mount. He told reporters in the Gaza Strip that Hamas has not abandoned the option of suicide bombings.
He accused Israel of exploiting the current “futile” peace talks with the PA to “liquidate the Palestinian cause and create new facts on the ground.”
Meanwhile, a senior Islamic Jihad leader Ahmed Al Mudallal said during a rally in the Gaza Strip that "the intifada must break in all areas of conflict. Resistance is the best response against the crimes of the occupation in the Al Aqsa Mosque."
“A new intifada should erupt against the Zionist enemy and we believe that our people have the will and ability to liberate Palestine from the river to the sea,” Mudallal said.
The Islamic Jihad leader continued to accuse Israel of attempting to replace the Al Aqsa Mosque with a Jewish Temple and urged the Palestinian Authority to pull out of negotiations with Israel. “The enemy is using these talks to pursue its crimes against the Aqsa Mosque,” Mudallal firmly stated.
Masked gunmen belonging to Fatah’s armed wing, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, held a press conference in Gaza City during which they threatened to launch attacks against Israel. “The enemy will soon pay a heavy price for its crimes in Jerusalem,” a spokesman for the group said.
Following a fear of violent civil unrest after today (Friday\’s) prayers, Jerusalem Police officials will limit the Muslim worshipers at The Temple Mount on Friday to men over 50 with blue identity cards and women with no age limit.
The Temple Mount is Judaism\’s holiest site, being the location of the two Holy Temples of Jerusalem. Despite that fact Jews are banned from praying there by the Israeli police and Islamic Waqf trust (which administers the Islamic complex currently located on the site), in the face of threats of violence by Islamist groups.
Numerous Israeli court rulings calling for the ban to be lifted in the name of freedom of religion have been circumvented by the police, who cite unspecified "security threats" to arrest Jewish visitors who worship there, and sometimes bar Jews from entering altogether.
Jewish groups have repeatedly challenged the restrictions on Jewish visits, and recent years have seen a marked increase in Jews ascending the Mount, much to the alarm of Islamist groups, who have upped a campaign of incitement against the Jewish presence there.