The Al-Aqsa Mosque. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Palestinian Authority (PA) over the last month has frequently accused Israel of trying to destroy Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Palestinian Media Watch reported five instances in September when leaders or organizations of the PA told Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the PA’s official daily publication, that Israel plans to replace Al-Aqsa with an “alleged Temple.”

On Sept. 20, the publication quoted Sheikh Dr. Tayseer Rajab Al-Tamimi, secretary of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, Sheikh Dr. Tayseer Rajab Al-Tamimi, as saying Al-Aqsa “is subject to daily invasions by settlers and extremist Jewish groups, and [subject] to attempts to desecrate [it], [all of which] are steps in implementing a Zionist plan to seize control and Judaize [the mosque], as preparation for its destruction, and for building their alleged Temple on its ruins.”

Additionally, the Islamic-Christian Council for Jerusalem and the Holy Places said in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida Sept. 14 that “the most recent excavations beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque foundations are a final warning [before] the mosque’s destruction.” Dr. Hanna Issa, the council’s secretary general, said the digging under the mosque is a “clear statement of the [Israeli] occupation’s intentions on the mosque, and its decision to cause its collapse and build the alleged Temple on its ruins.”