Scores of Jewish settlers enter J'lem's Aqsa: Official

JERUSALEM

Scores of Jewish settlers on Thursday forced their way into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to mark Israel’s “Independence Day”, according to a Palestinian official.

“Since Thursday morning, over 130 Jewish extremists have entered the compound to mark the 71st anniversary of Israel’s creation in 1948,” Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s Religious Endowments Authority (a Jordan-run authority responsible for overseeing the city's Muslim and Christian holy sites), told Anadolu Agency.

According to al-Dibs, the settlers entered Al-Aqsa -- accompanied by Israeli police -- through the compound’s Al-Mugharbah Gate.

“Settlers took a brief tour of the compound, performing Talmudic rituals near the Dome of the Rock Mosque,” he said.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, in which the Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

In a move never recognized by the international community, it annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the Jewish state’s “eternal and undivided” capital.