Palestinian leaders call on Muslim to protect Israeli attacks that police stormed Al-Aqsa mosque for second time.

Khaled Meshaal, exiled head of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, warned that Israel could attempt to divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem in a televised news conference from Damascus on Sunday evening.

At least 30 people, mostly Palestinians, have been wounded since fierce clashes between Palestinian activists using stones, shoes and bare fists and gun-armed Israeli troops in and around Al-Aqsa mosque early on Sunday, sources told Kuwaiti news agency.

Palestinian medical sources in Jerusalem said the overall toll of the clashes at the sacred site has reached 30 wounded including five journalists.

The clashes erupted earlier Sunday when Israeli troops using stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets broke into the courtyard of the mosque, beating Palestinian worshippers with buts of guns and clubs.

The Israeli troops encircled some 200 worshippers inside the sacred site.

Up to 20 Palestinians were nabbed by the Israeli forces during the confrontations that turned the courtyard of the mosque into a battle ground of blasting ordnance and billowing smoke.

Among the detainees was Hatem Abdel Qader, in charge of the Jerusalem file in the mainstream Palestinian organization, Fatah.

"Jerusalem belongs to Muslims, Christians"

"It was the first time Israeli army locked the gates of the mosque with chains, barring the call to prayer, breaking into its yards for long periods of time," Mash'al said in remarks denouncing an Israeli police raid early on Sunday that sparked a day of demonstrations.

"These acts are intended to divide Al-Aqsa and force their [Jews'] religious rituals on it," he added.

Mash'al may have been alluding to the division of the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron, half of which is controlled by Israeli settlers.

"Jerusalem belongs to its Arab inhabitants, Muslims and Christians. The future (of the city) will not be settled at the negotiating table but on the ground of confrontation and resistance," Meshaal said.

"Jerusalem for us, as Palestinians, is all of Jerusalem with all of its land, residents and its Islamic symbols … the Jews have no right to it," he also said.

"Jerusalem's fate will not be decided in negotiations but in the balance of confrontation and resistance," he added.

He called on Arab leaders to "withdraw the Arab peace initiative which offers a normalisation of ties between Arabs and Israelis in return for an Israeli pullout from occupied Arab lands.

"Muslim support for Al-Aqsa

Ismail Haniyeh called several Arab and Muslim leaders around the world on Sunday to enlist their support in ending Israeli intrusions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.

The Hamas leader asked Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), for an emergency meeting of the organization to discuss these attacks.

Haniyeh also called Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, calling on him to take practical steps to protect Al-Aqsa.

Hamas leader also spoke with the Emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa, and Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faysal.

On Saturday evening, Muslim officials and institutions had called on worshippers to go to Al-Aqsa in order to prevent the entry of right-wing Jewish groups and individuals, who had announced their intentions to enter the area under armed guard.

In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli attack. "Jerusalem is a red line that Israel should not cross," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas.

OIC condemned the police action as a "violation of all Muslim sanctuaries," and called an extraordinary meeting for November 1 in Jeddah of its executive committee.

In September 2000, the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, erupted after Ariel Sharon, a rightwing politician who went on to become Israel's prime minister, visited the site.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the Muslims' first Qiblah [direction Muslims take during prayers] and the third holiest shrine after Al Ka'bah in Makkah and Prophet Muhammad's Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

Israel has been working hard over the past years to Judaize the holy city and change its Islamic identity.



Agencies