SHAFAQNA (International Shia News Association)-The cemetery is adjacent to the Eastern Wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. The Israeli authorities demolished the tombs, belonging to Palestinian families from Jerusalem, claiming that they were built on lands appropriated by the state.
Head of the Committee for the Caring of Islamic Cemeteries in Jerusalem Mustafa Abu Zahra strongly criticised the demolition, calling it an “aggression” against the sanctity of dead Muslims.
Abu Zahrah explained that the demolished tombs were recently built in the cemetery, which belongs to the Islamic Waqf and thus Muslims do not have to get permission from anyone to use it.
He noted that hundreds of Palestinian Muslim martyrs are buried at the cemetery, which also has an Islamic memorial inside of it. He said that a group of tombs that had recently been built were being used while another group of them remained empty.
According to Abu Zahrah, the Israeli occupation authorities destroyed both the empty tombs and the ones being used.