Sheikh neighborhood in East Jerusalem, I nesrael
Sheikh neighborhood in East Jerusalem, I nesraelFlash 90

Adnan al-Husseini, the 'Governor of Jerusalem' who also serves as head of the PLO's Al-Quds division, accuses the "occupation and its settlers" of "attacking" the residents' lands and homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem as part of efforts "to Judaize and take over the Holy City," he said.

In an interview with official PA news agency Wafa, Husseini said "the steadfastness of the residents there and their stand against the settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood forced the settlers to abandon the area they invaded in the morning, destroyed the walls, and uprooted the trees to take it over and settle in it."

According to him, the area of Kbania in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood is a target for the "settlers" where 33 Arab families live under "prolonged attacks" against the backdrop of the claim that a number of houses belonged to Jews.

Husseini rejected the claim of Jewish ownership of the houses by saying ownership documents held by the "settlers" are unclear, and they are trying to use the government to expel the Arab families.

Referring to prayers of Jews in the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Temple Mount), Husseini said this is a "serious act," because if the police allow "extremist Jews" to pray in Al-Aqsa, it will lead to an explosion of the situation in Jerusalem and in all of Palestine, as "the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic mosque only and the Jews have no right to pray there.

"It is incumbent upon everyone to act continuously to put an end to the frivolous occupation government which is liable to drag the region into a general religious war," Husseini said.

A few days ago, the national and Islamic forces in the Ramallah district, the supreme coordinating body of the Palestinian organizations, issued a statement denouncing Israeli attempts to change the status quo in the Al-Aqsa Mosque as a preparatory stage for dividing the use of the place between Muslims and Jews. The statement emphasized that "there is no right for non-Muslims to hold a prayer in the place."