Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with activists in Ramallah on Wednesday, vowing to prevent the “filthy feet” of Jews from “defiling” Temple Mount, following clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces at the Temple Mount this week.
Broadcast on PA TV and featured on the official Palestinian news agency (WAFA’s) website yesterday, Abbas addressed activists, stating “every Martyr (Shahid) will reach Paradise, and everyone wounded will be rewarded by Allah. The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is ours, and they have no right to defile them with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem”.
He declared: “We bless you, we bless the Murabitin (those carrying out Ribat, religious conflict/war to protect land claimed to be Islamic), we bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem, which is clean and pure blood, blood spilled for Allah, Allah willing”.
Abbas has used similar language referring to Jewish visitors in the past, stating in October 2014: “They have come, and they must not come to the Sanctuary (i.e., Temple Mount). We have to prevent them, in any way whatsoever, from entering the Sanctuary. This is our Sanctuary, our Al-Aqsa and our Church [of the Holy Sepulchre]. They have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places”.
This speech was broadcast on official PA TV 19 times over 17-19 October 2014, with Abbas’ endorsement of violence seen as contributing to the wave of Palestinian terror attacks from October to December 2014, which killed 11 Israeli civilians.
