By Middle East Monitor
An Israeli settler raised the flag of the Zionist state inside the Al-Aqsa compound, directly in front of the iconic golden dome, in a provocative act on Israeli independence day. This time of year is when Palestinians remember the Nakba, the partition of their land and violent uprooting of 750,000 native people. A group of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound, in what is becoming a near daily act of incitement, and even left an Israeli flag hanging at the Mughrabi Gate of the mosque.
Following calls by extremist Israeli groups, illegal settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex today to mark Israel’s independence day, with one settler raising an Israeli flag before being told to take it down by occupation forces.
While Israelis mark their independence day today, Palestinians will commemorate 76 years since the Nakba – the ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine to make way for the creation of the state of Israel – tomorrow.
Settlers also placed an Israeli flag on the Mughrabi Gate area, the gate used by illegal Israeli settlers to storm the mosque.
Palestinians accuse Israel of systematically working to Judaise East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, and obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and an area where non-Muslim prayer and rituals are forbidden by long-standing agreement.
However, since 2003, Israel has allowed settlers into the compound almost daily.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognised by the international community.
