Al Aqsa mufti criticized in secret Israeli report
Regional, Religion, 10/16/1997

The Palestine National Authority's Minister of Religious Affairs Hassan Tahboub, stressed Thursday that Israel as an occupying power has no right whatsoever to extend its authority over the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Control over the holy Islamic shrines, said Tabhoub, is exclusively the right of the Palestinian Islamic Waqf (endowment) and not of any other authority.

Tahboub was referring to a secret document recently prepared by security officers for the prime minister claiming that the Waqf plans to continue building on the Al Aqsa Mosque - without coordination with the Jerusalem Municipality or the Antiquities Authority. The report also claimed that the Al Aqsa Mosque Mufti Ikremeh Sabri , has adopted an extreme and militant position against Israel and is expanding his activities to other regions in the country, like Galilee and Jaffa.

Tahboub stressed that all works conducted on the Mosque plaza are for renovation purposes and do not form any extra construction, a claim Israel has raised lately to suppress activities of the Islamic Waqf in the city of Jerusalem. He warned Jewish fanatic elements that advocating the destruction of Al Aqsa Mosque and its replacement with the third Jewish temple would only bring wars to the region, the price of which will be paid by all Israelis. Tahboub called on all Muslims to rally around the Islamic shrines in the Israeli-occupied territories and said it is the duty of every Muslim to protect the holy shrines of Islam.

The secret report, which deals with the ³Palestinianization of the Temple Mount" (the name Israel uses for Al Aqsa Mosque), notes the continued and expanding activity of the Palestinian Authority in the area. Among other actions, the report raises the illegal construction at the site, saying that the Waqf plans to continue with additional renovation work ³without coordination with the Antiquities Authority or the Jerusalem Municipality.²

The report includes an assessment of the political situation according to the activities of the Palestinian Authority, and designates the Mufti Ikremeh Sabri as ³the dominant figure on the Temple Mount.² The report accused the mufti of speaking incitingly against Israel in his weekly Friday sermons at Al-Aqsa mosque, and of giving politically-oriented religious rulings (fatwa) like the one against land dealers selling property to Jews. ³The Mufti¹s activity has crossed every red line, if any remain,² the report said.

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