Palestinian PM Hamdallah prays at Al-Aqsa Mosque
Visit coordinated by Avigdor Liberman’s Defense Ministry, despite minister’s statements blaming PA for terror wave
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Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Saturday visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Hamdallah was accompanied by Palestinian General Intelligence Service chief Majed Faraj and head of the Palestinian Preventative Security Service Ziad Hab al-Rieh.
The visit was coordinated with Israel, and followed Friday prayers a day earlier that saw 10,000 Palestinians arrive for Ramadan prayers at the holy site. Both events passed without incident.
Hamdallah returns to the site every few months, but the visit is Hamdallah’s first since the start of Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman’s term as defense minister.
Before joining the government, Liberman long accused the PA of causing the wave of Palestinian terror attacks, and accused the Netanyahu government of inadequately responding to the assaults.
Earlier this week, a Defense Ministry official blamed the PA for Palestinian terror attacks, telling Walla that “Israel’s central problem is Abu Mazen,” the nom-de-guerre of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We’re strong in the military arena and weak in the diplomatic one. That’s our soft underbelly. Abu Mazen takes advantage of that to carry out diplomatic terrorism against the state of Israel,” the ministry official said, echoing comments by Liberman in recent months.
Friday prayers at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem passed quietly for the second consecutive week as Israel allowed 300 Palestinians from Gaza to worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Ramadan, a week after revoking entry permits in response to a deadly attack in Tel Aviv.
The 300 Palestinians are believed to be the first from the blockaded enclave to be granted entry to pray since Israel shut the border after Palestinian terrorists killed four Israelis at the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv on June 8.
That measure came during the first week of the Muslim holy month, when tens of thousands of Palestinians visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.
The permits issued for Friday were the regular weekly quota for worshipers at Al-Aqsa, and not the originally planned increased numbers for Ramadan, said a spokeswoman for COGAT, the Defense Ministry unit which manages civilian affairs for Palestinians in the West Bank and liaises with Gaza.
AFP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.