Hamas calls for third Intifada

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has called on Palestinians to stage a third Intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation.

“In view of the settlements” and the attempt to Judaize al-Quds (Jerusalem), “there is no place for calm,” Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshaal told the Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq.

Palestinians argue that al-Quds is the capital of a future Palestinian independent state.

“We will foil the scheme through resistance and by calling for an uprising against the occupation,” Meshaal added.

The senior Palestinian official has also said the responsibility of defending the al-Aqsa Mosque goes to all Muslim nations.

He called on all Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, to defend the holy site.

He noted that the mosque is in serious danger now and warned Tel Aviv against any desecration of the holy site.

The al-Aqsa compound, which lies in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, is a flashpoint holy site in Islam.

The location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest mosque after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

A total of 6,200 Palestinians died during the first Intifada between 1987 and 1993 and the second one in 2000s, both fiercely confronted by Israel.

Israel proclaimed existence in 1948 after full-scale military operations against the Arab world.

In 1967, Tel Aviv occupied and later annexed the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in a move not recognized by the international law.

Over the past decades, Israel has tried to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population.