Ever since then, the Palestinians have tried to blame Israel and Jews for the attack. And this year's anniversary is no exception.
The official PA Wafa news agency has many articles on this anniversary.
One says that Israel has enacted security measures and says that there will be a meeting today of senior figures to condemn "as well as continuous provocative incursions, and the accompanying attempts to perform the rituals and prayers of the Talmud, and the statements and declarations to demolish the mosque and build a "temple" on its ruins."
The Islamic Christian Commission used this anniversary to denounce "Judaization projects by the Israeli government against the al-Aqsa mosque and the holy city as a whole, including the daily incursions of the blessed mosqu , preventing worshipers from entering, continued tunneling beneath the foundations of the mosque, and more outposts and settlement blocs, and building of more Talmudic gardens, which combine to the Israeli goal to set up a Temple....The burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque 47 years ago was the beginning to outline a comprehensive and dangerous Judaization of the mosque..."
The official PA government statement used the anniversary to say "the series of crimes of the occupation against the first Qiblah and the third holiest shrine has not stopped from 1967 to today."
Another article said that "settlers" visited the Temple Mount today to celebrate the anniversary of the attack. The Supreme Muslim Council condemned the peaceful visits by Jews to their holiest site, calling the visits "aggressive intrusions" and saying that Jews have no rights on the area.
The PA foreign ministry also used the anniversary to issue a statement condemning "Benjamin Netanyahu's extremist government" for "continuing the Judaization of occupied East Jerusalem and its environs, through the creation of fake Talmudic Jewish landmarks that have nothing to do with history and religion, but politics through the use of force." It also complained about how there are now over 100 synagogues near the Temple Mount and how Israel is oppressing Muslims by limiting the noise level of calls to prayer in mosques "because it disturbs the settlers."
Perhaps the most telling article at the official Wafa site was written in English, where the author clearly knows that the arsonist in 1969 was not Jewish, but wants to give readers the impression that he was:
Israeli police Sunday intensified what it called, security measures in the Old City of Jerusalem as this day marks the 47th anniversary of Al-Aqsa Mosque arson at the hands ofan Australian man who studied Torah and wanted to build a new temple....Presented in front of the court, Rohan stated that he was acting as “the Lord’s emissary” following the divine instructions and also stated that his reason for trying to destruct Al-Aqsa Mosque was in order to give a chance to rebuild it as the Jewish Temple.Taken together, it is obvious that the PA is trying yet again to incite violence to "defend Al Aqsa" - the same kind of incitement that led to last year's knifing and car ramming spree against Jews throughout Israel.
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