• The Attack on Al Aqsa Mosque in 1981

The United Nations Security Council was convened in April, 1981, to discuss the new attack and desecration by Zionists of the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque. Dr. Hazem Nusseibeh, the Ambassador of Jordan, described the attack in his statement to the Council in its meeting of April 13, 1982. The following are excerpts of the statement:

On Sunday, 11 April, at 9:20 a.m., a gang of armed Israeli troops directed heavy fire from various directions at the Al Aqsa Mosque…

That Israeli carnage was carried out to give cover to an Israeli soldier-- or is he an American? He is in fact both-- by the name of Alan Harry Goodman, who was on a murderous journey of death and desecration. He killed in cold blood a 65-year old unarmed Arab guard at the Magharba-- Moroccan Gate-- evidently unchallenged by the armed Israeli trooper who sits there. He murdered in cold blood two other unarmed guardians and seriously wounded a third at the entrance to the Dome of the Rock, opened up his fire-arms at the worshippers in every direction, for a duration of half an hour. Eyewitnesses at the scene reported that he had a large stock of ammunition on his shoulders, to murder the maximum number of devout worshippers and civilians in the vicinity. Having murdered nine and wounded 40 other in the Mosque, this Israeli-American criminal directed his fire at the Al-Minbar-- pulpit-- the chandeliers, the mosaic, the marble and the carpets, some of which caught fire. The casualties in that premeditated and well-planned assault totaled at least 100 inside and outside the holy Mosque.

Fearful that the highly provoked victims would capture that gutter terrorist, his accomplices-- the Israeli so-called anti-riot police-- imposed a total curfew on that historic and ancient City, demolished a part of one of the walls of the holy sanctuary, stormed the Dome of the Rock and ensured the safety of the criminal by firing at the crowd, and then whisked him away to safety in a closed military van…

The Islamic Council in Jerusalem, which has called a seven-day strike throughout the occupied territories, denounced a statement issued Sunday by the office of Prime Minister Menachem Begin which described the Israeli soldier as mentally ill. The criminal, Alan Harry Goodman, formerly of Baltimore, was inducted into the army last month for a brief service customary for immigrants. Of course, he has dual nationality.

The Higher Islamic Council said it was absurd of the Prime Minister’s office to describe the assailant as deranged, because soldiers were supposed to undergo physical examinations. Moreover, the Higher Islamic Council added, the assailant was not alone. It asserted that he had been covered during his attack by fire from many directions. How else could he have continued his shooting spree within the Dome of the Rock for half an hour until he had expended all his bullets?

The Zionist designs against the Islamic Holy Sanctuary are long and infamous. A chronology survey of these activities includes the following:

1. Continuous and sustained deep digging under the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Holy Sanctuary as a whole-- structures which are 14 centuries old-- began immediately after the Zionist occupation of the Holy City, in addition to the demolition of hundreds of buildings in the area adjacent to it. These deep diggings have reached such depths that entire structures are threatened with collapse.
2. On 21 August, 1969 the Zionists carried out a plot of arson to set the entire Al Aqsa Mosque on fire. The arsonist, Michael Rohan, a Zionist Australian, was declared deranged-- not unlike the person in question today-- and sent to Australia.
3. On 9 May 1980, 120 kilos of high explosives, scores of bombs, wires and other explosive contraptions were accidentally discovered a mere few minutes away from the time of detonation on the roof of a Jewish school in the Old City, 150 yards away from the target. The Gush Emunim terrorist movement was behind the plan, which aimed at blowing up the Al Aqsa Mosque and other historical buildings. The day was a Friday and tens of thousands of worshippers might have been killed or maimed if that arsenal of explosives had not been accidentally discovered two minutes before explosion.
4. Repeated attempts by Israeli groups to force their way into mosques of the holy sanctuary, leading to numerous clashes.
5. Last year, the Israeli Gush Emunim started digging a tunnel leading to the Dome of the Rock. The attempt was discovered and foiled by the civilian inhabitants.
6. 7 April, 1982-- that is, three days before the Easter Sunday massacre-- explosive charges placed by (Gush Emunim) were discovered at the entrance to the Al Aqsa Mosque and dismantled. Beside the charges were pamphlets threatening to blow up the Al Aqsa Mosque and physically liquidate the religious dignitaries. The threats were written in broken Arabic and issued from the Kiryat Arba illegal settlement overlooking the City of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

(New York Times correspondent David Shipler revealed the following on 12 April 1982, p.12). He said, referring to the Israeli troops, that “Just before going, one of them, with a laugh, threw a tear gas grenade near the (Al Aqsa) Mosque upwind of the main door. Smoke from the perfectly placed canister blew into the mosque, and worshippers came out coughing and wiping their eyes. One elderly man was carried to an ambulance. A few of the troops walked away laughing.”

If the spot is as sacred to those troops as they claim it is, it is truly incongruous that the soldiers would have behaved with that bellicose and nauseating meanness…