Al Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem
Al Aqsa Mosque, JerusalemFlash 90

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has continued to twist history for its own ends, Palestinian Media Watch reports Friday - this time, claiming a "Jewish terrorist" set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in 1969, when it was actually a Christian Australian man. 

"Forty six years have passed since the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] was set on fire by the Jewish terrorist Denis Michael (i.e, Michael Denis William Rohan, an Australian Christian)... the people of Ribat (i.e.,religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic) who stand strong in Jerusalem and Palestine are those who protect the first direction of prayer [Jerusalem], and stop attack after attack by the extremist Jewish terrorists, who no longer hide their true goals: the establishment of the alleged Temple on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]," official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida published at the end of August. 

"The occupation stopped the water to the area around the Mosque and delayed the fire trucks of the Jerusalem Municipality, under its authority, so they would not participate in extinguishing the fire."

The PA government also voiced the libel and "emphasized that 46 years after the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] was set on fire, the Israeli attacks and plots still continue, and their severity is even increasing from day to day."
Mayor of Betunia, Ribhi Dawla, issued a statement to the press, linking the fire in 1969 to the alleged goal of Israel to destroy the Mosque.

"The 46th anniversary of setting the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire obligates everyone to strengthen the unity and stand up to stop the occupation's attacks and put an end to its aspirations: the destruction of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] and the building of the alleged Temple in its place."

The PA frequently twists history to demonize the Jews, with a special focus on the Temple Mount - the holiest site in Judaism. Arabs have repeatedly tried to erase the Jewish nature of the site, where the First and Second Temples stood, by destroying ancient Jewish artifacts and building illegally. Earlier this year, the PA and Hamas claimed that the Mount was a Roman site.