NABLUS, March 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Extremist Jewish settlers are planning to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest place, by next April, according to Al-Aqsa Institution for Reconstruction of Islamic Sanctities.

Leaders of Jewish settlers have declared some 10,000 settlers are planning to storm the holy mosque in a bid to perform Jewish “religious rituals” in the holy place, they claim to be the site of “Temple Mount”.

Leaflets are being distributed by Jewish settlers to urge Jews to join the storming of the Islamic holy site on April 10.

Extremist Jewish groups, which rally for the construction of the so-called “Temple Mount”, are expected to join the storming, according to Israeli press sources.

The campaign patron, David Hebrew from the Tfwah settlement in the West Bank city of Nablus, claimed that his campaign aimed at fostering what he termed “spiritual relations” with “Temple Mount” by performing the Jewish religious rituals within the holy mosque.

“Through this campaign, we are trying to bring some 10,000 Jews into the mosque,” he told Israel’s Channel 7.

The extremist Jewish settler pressed for opening up all entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque before the Jewish people, claiming that Al-Aqsa belongs to Jewish people, not to Muslims.

Israel claims Al-Aqsa Mosque was built on the so-called Temple Mount, an allegation refuted by scores of world historians.

On April 12, 2004, at least 70 Palestinians were injured when Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa mosque compound and clashed with worshippers.

“The planned campaign (to storm Al-Aqsa) is a result of the Israeli police (giving) green light for Jews to enter the mosque,” said Sheikh Kamal Al-Khateeb, deputy chairman of the Islamic Movement inside Israel.

He held the Israeli government responsible for any storming or attacks against the holy place.

“There are other major threats against the mosque, not only from those who openly express their intentions, but also from Jewish extremists who are secretly plotting attacks against the holy place.”

Khateeb further warned the mosque could be attacked by rockets.

“Why should we dismiss an attack (against Al-Aqsa Mosque) using Law rockets?” Khateeb charged, stressing that some of these Israeli rockets were declared stolen by the Israeli military recently.

Rocket attacks were being planned by some Israeli criminal gangs against a celebration hall in the Berdes Hana area, Khateeb said.

“These missing rockets could be used by extremist Israeli groups to attack Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

A senior Israeli security official warned last July that extremist Jews might be plotting a deadly attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque to kill the Middle East peace process stone-dead and derail Israeli proposed pullout of the Gaza Strip.

A suspect in a Jewish underground terror group affair, Shahar Dvir-Zeliger, told Israeli authorities a prominent West Bank settler activist had planned a mosque attack, according to a recent report by Israeli daily Ha’aretz.

On February 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a well-known leader of Jewish extremist Kach group, entered Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank town of Al-Khalil and emptied two clips of a machinegun into Muslim worshippers during the dawn prayer, killing at least 50 people and injuring 200 others.

Israeli occupation soldiers used tear gas and guarded the entrance of the mosque after they heard gunfire, which contributed to the difficulty of evacuating the dead and injured.

Some eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers took part in the shooting afterward.

Goldstein was said to have died inside the mosque, but it is not clear if he killed himself or was killed in the melee after opening fire.

Archeologists have also warned that ongoing Israeli excavations weakened the foundations of the mosque, cautioning it would not stand a powerful earthquake.

A part of the road leading to one of the mosque’s main gates collapsed in February, 2004, due to the destructive Israeli digging work.