by Daniel Siryoti
Tens of thousands of Temple Mount protesters were given prepackaged meals with notes saying: "With the help of Allah, Palestine will be liberated! Jerusalem is ours" • PA official: It is obvious Iran was behind this effort, which cost millions of shekels
Protesters in Jerusalem last week
Photo credit: AFP
The Iranian prepackaged
meals with the notes saying: "With the help of Allah, Palestine will be
liberated! Jerusalem is ours"
The recent clashes in and around the Temple
Mount were fueled in part by the Iranian government, Palestinian sources
told Israel Hayom this week.
The clashes erupted after Israeli authorities
installed metal detectors at entry points to the site in response to a
deadly terrorist attack there on July 14. Many Muslims locally and
around the world viewed the Israeli security measure as a bid to usurp
control. Israel insisted the measure was meant only to prevent further
attacks, and removed the devices less than two weeks later.
According to the Palestinian sources, tens of
thousands of Muslim protesters received prepackaged meals along with
notes in each one citing a famous quote attributed to 1979 Iranian
Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: "With the help of Allah,
Palestine will be liberated! Jerusalem is ours." The note also depicted
the Dome of the Rock and the Palestinian flag.
According to reports in the Palestinian media,
a nongovernmental organization run by Iranian youth movements was in
charge of distributing the meals. Arabic news sites affiliated with the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps also pointed to Iranian NGOs as being
behind the "supply of food to the heroes fighting for the liberation of
the besieged Al-Aqsa mosque until victory is achieved over the Zionist
occupier."
Despite those reports, a senior official in
the Palestinian security forces told Israel Hayom that such a large
logistical effort could not have been single-handedly managed and funded
by a youth movement.
"It is plainly obvious that the government in
Tehran, by way of its long tentacles, was behind these efforts," the
official said. "This involves millions of shekels, and it appears that
the Iranians have found a way to cash in on this and to make it clear to
the Palestinians that Iran is taking care of them."
"The leaflet was included in every prepackaged meal and made it abundantly clear where it originated," the official says.
Another Palestinian official told Israel Hayom
that the Palestinian Authority knew in advance about the Iranian
involvement, but chose to withhold the information from Israel when
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided to freeze security
ties with Israel. The decision, made in the wake of the Temple Mount
crisis, has since been reversed.
"This would have not taken place in areas
under Palestinian control. We would have never let Iran establish such a
foothold because this would have hit us like a boomerang, by prompting
action from Arab states," the official said.
"Perhaps the Iranians understood they could
undertake this effort without Israeli authorities asking too many
questions. We obtained intelligence of their intention to spend heavily
on the meal distribution, but we received orders to stop cooperating
[with Israel] and we acted accordingly."
The Iranian influence has been met with
Palestinian concern, with senior Palestinian officials in Abbas' inner
circle saying he was outraged when he found out about the Iranian
intervention.
"Nothing is past the Iranians. Their tentacles
are everywhere and it would be a big mistake to let them make such
inroads," a senior official in Abbas' office said.
Iran is not the only player fanning the flames in the
conflict. Israel Hayom has previously reported on Turkish-led efforts to
inflame the region and on ongoing incitement by Israeli Arab clerics.
Daniel Siryoti
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=44271
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