Hamas calls for ‘day of rage’ in West Bank over Al-Aqsa incursions

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Tuesday called for rallies in the occupied West Bank on Friday to protest settler incursions into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

"We call for making this Friday a ‘day of rage’ in the West Bank and staging mass rallies to protest [attempts] by settlers to impose a fait accompli with the help of the occupation government,” Hamas said in a statement.

The Palestinian group described the settler incursions into Al-Aqsa complex as “a desperate attempt to save the face of the occupation government”.

On May 23, Israeli police allowed settler incursions into Al-Aqsa complex in occupied East Jerusalem after a 3-week suspension due to clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the city.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Since 2003, Israel has allowed settlers into the compound almost on a daily basis.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.

In July 2017, UN cultural agency UNESCO adopted a resolution that denounced Israel's failure to "cease the persistent excavations, tunneling, works, projects and other illegal practices in East Jerusalem, particularly in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, which are illegal under international law".

The resolution further stated that "legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying power, which have altered -- or purport to alter -- the character and status of the holy city of Jerusalem… are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith".

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the decades-long Middle East dispute, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem might one day serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara