Palestine condemns Israeli minister’s visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa complex

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Palestine has condemned a visit by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem as “unprecedented provocation.”

“Ben-Gvir’s intrusion represents unprecedented provocation, a serious threat to the arena of conflict and a contempt to calls to stop” the visit, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry termed the minister’s tour as “a “legitimization of further incursions to Al-Aqsa Mosque by hardline settlers.”

The ministry held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible “for this brazen assault on Al-Aqsa”.

Early on Tuesday, Ben-Gvir entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, a day after announcing he postponed the visit amid warnings of unrest.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third-holiest site. Jews, for their part, call the area as the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Ben-Gvir holds far-right views on the Palestinians and has called for their displacement. He has repeatedly joined Israeli settlers in storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem.

The politician in the past caused tension in the occupied city by setting up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Last November, Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned, according to a leaked audio clip, that “the whole world is worried” about Ben-Gvir’s extremist views.

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.