
Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, attended by 50,000 people, served this week as a platform to encourage the public to mobilize for the “resistance” against Israel.
Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council, spoke in his sermon about the importance of holding on to the land and protecting it by praising the course of action of the residents of Wadi Joz, Silwan, Burkin, Beita, Jenin and Palestinian Arab residents in the rest of Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem.
Sabri called the Palestinians the "keepers of the faith and the lands" and stressed the ban on selling land to Jews or giving it up.
"The mediation and transfer of land and real estate (to the Jews) are a betrayal and an exit from the entire Muslim group and an exit from the entire community," he stated.
Harun Nasser, a member of Hamas' political bureau, called on Muslims to mobilize to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque and take action against the "desecration" of the site by the settlers in order to keep the place of the Prophet Muhammad's ascent to heaven "pure from all impurity."
Sabri regularly accuses Israel of trying to “Judaize” the Temple Mount area. Several years ago, he accused "extremist" Jewish organizations of waging a legal battle aimed at achieving Israeli sovereignty in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In 2014, he declared that Al-Aqsa was a “red line” for Arabs, adding, “We will not give up even one grain of earth (at the Al-Aqsa Mosque), since the Jews have no connection to it whatsoever.”
Arabs continuously accuse Israel of "Judaizing" the Temple Mount, sometimes resorting to ridiculous propaganda such as accusing Israel of using chemicals to erode the foundations of the mosque in order to cause it to collapse.
Under Palestinian Authority (PA) law, the selling of land to Jews is illegal and punishable by death. However, such sentences must be approved by the PA chairman, and current chairman Mahmoud Abbas has preferred to authorize life sentences for such offenses, possibly due to fear of an international backlash.
In 2014, Abbas toughened the PA law against selling property to Israeli Jews, so that any Palestinian Arabs involved in renting, selling or facilitating real estate transactions with citizens of "hostile countries" in any way would receive life imprisonment and hard-labor.