Massive protest against Israel demolition of Islamic cemetery in Yafa

Hundreds of residents of the city of Yafa organized a protest on Tuesday against the Israeli demolition of a historic Islamic cemetery, Anadolu Agency reported.

Hundreds of residents of the city of Yafa organized a protest on Tuesday against the Israeli demolition of a historic Islamic cemetery, Anadolu Agency reported.

Protestors performed the Friday prayer and started a march condemning the Israeli decision to demolish the Islamic Al-Isaaf Cemetery located in the north of the city of Yafa.

On Monday, Israeli bulldozers started the demolition of the cemetery in preparation for building a new Israeli housing project.

The protestors gathered in the cemetery in an attempt to stop the demolition. The city council called the police who tried to guard the demolition, resulting in clashes with the protestors after Israeli police fired tear gas and used sound bombs against them.

Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, the imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque, who is currently banned by the Israeli occupation from entering the holy site, delivered the Friday sermon.

He conveyed that exhuming tombs is prevented in Islam in order to preserve the dignity of the those buried, stressing that the cemetery is a land of Islamic endowment and is owned by all Muslims.

“We call on you to protect the cemeteries,” Sabri told the gathering, expressing that “defending cemeteries is defending lands, and defending the dead is defending a legitimate right.”

Al-Isaaf Cemetery, which dates back to Ottoman times, includes hundreds of burials of Muslims who were laid there before the Israeli occupation of the city in 1948.