Occupied Jerusalem

- A few days ago, the Danish tourist Eric Hansen arrived with his family in the city of Jerusalem, and unlike most foreign tourists, he preferred to wander alone in the alleys of the old town and its surroundings.

In the citadel of Jerusalem, which the Israeli occupation calls "David's Castle", Hansen was turning over a pamphlet containing false historical information about this archaeological place.

In the inner hall of the citadel, Al-Jazeera Net asked him about the most fascinated information about Jerusalem, and he replied: It amazes me that this city is a landing site for the three monotheistic religions, and my wish is that the conflict in it will end and peace will prevail.

This tourist is also astonished by historical places, such as the castle, which he toured alone without a tourist guide, saying that he prefers to rely on the information he knows about the city with his personal diligence.

However, next to this tourist, other tourists gathered around the guides accompanying them, providing them with the biblical narration about the place, which is considered one of the most prominent centers of Judaization near Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Danish tourist Eric Hansen during his tour of Jerusalem Castle (Al-Jazeera)

distortion and forgery

A Jerusalem elder has been working here in the Citadel of Jerusalem for 39 years.

Although all the halls of the Citadel Museum were closed due to the restoration work, he opened the closed door of the mosque, which was turned into an exhibition hall, and spoke with pain about what had become of this place.

This Al-Maqdisi preferred not to reveal his name, but he told Al-Jazeera Net that all the stories presented to the visitors of the castle - whose number exceeded two million visitors annually before the Corona pandemic - are accounts that falsify facts and distort the Islamic eras that followed Jerusalem.

While talking about the historical mihrab and pulpit located inside one of the exhibition halls, the man cried and said that he knew one day that the “Israel Antiquities Authority” intended to steal 4 ancient stone pillars from in front of the pulpit, so he carried them and hid them under cardboard boxes and huge plastic bags inside the basements of the castle.

The elderly employee tried to protect the belongings that were stolen at one time and the mosque landmarks that were distorted at other times by going to religious authorities and the Jordanian endowments, but the response was that nothing can be changed, he said.


Brainwashing Jews and tourists

Leaving the Citadel Mosque, we heard the story of one of the tour guides telling his group that these huge stones belong to the “Second Temple” period, and this is what the Citadel Museum’s administration focuses on by showing the city of Jerusalem with models from different eras, without addressing the Arabs and Muslims and their role in its prosperity .

The researcher in the affairs of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Radwan Amr, dwells on 4 main centers in the Old City and its surroundings, which constitute a "brainwashing system" for the emerging Jewish generation and for tourists who listen to the distorted biblical narrative of facts.

These centers are:

The Museum of the Citadel of Jerusalem from the inside, which the occupation calls "David's Castle" (Al-Jazeera)

  • Al-Quds Castle Museum

    : Its Israeli administration claims that it tells the story of the city of Jerusalem, which extends 3,000 years ago.

    However, the Jerusalem researcher asserts that the occupation deliberately ignores many facts that indicate the Arabism and Islamicness of Jerusalem, and distorts it to adopt the biblical narrative and implant it in the minds of local visitors and tourists.


    The museum’s administration claims in one of its novels, for example, that the leader Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi was harsh in his dealings with the Crusaders when he conquered Jerusalem, as he stopped them in queues to collect tribute from them.


    Researcher Radwan Amr points out that the museum does not mention the Arabs, nor does it address Jerusalem during the periods when Islamic presence flourished for 1,400 years.


    In the hall of the Citadel Mosque, the visitor will find cruciform statues, models, and audio-visual light shows that adopt the biblical narrative and marginalize the correct Islamic narrative, and focus on the so-called "period of the first and second temples" according to the Talmudic narrative.


    The museum conducts tours of sites outside the castle, and it produces tour guides specialized in the biblical narrative, and they are active in erasing and distorting the true narrative of the place.

    An image showing the "City of David" settlement next to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Jazeera)

  • City of David

    : This settlement city was established in 1986 at the entrance to the town of Silwan, the neighbor of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It belongs to the “Elad” settlement association, which specializes in theft of real estate and supervises the digging of tunnels and control of the above and below ground in this town in particular.


    This association is affiliated with teams of guides and tour guides, and it supervises Silwan, as well as controls the underpasses and tunnels towards Al-Aqsa.


    Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit this city annually as a main stop during their visit to Jerusalem and their storming of Al-Aqsa through the Al-Buraq Wall.


    It promotes in this place the idea that this part of Silwan is the city of David, peace be upon him, and mixes many historical issues in order to present the Jewish narrative after deliberately destroying and ignoring many Islamic stages in search of alleged Jewish historical layers.


    Although excavation work has been going on for many years now, the occupation has not found any trace of the alleged "temple", which they claim refers to the Jewishness of the place.


  • Davidson Center

    : This center is located south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and controls the area of ​​the Umayyad palaces inside and outside the old wall, and cooperates with the "City of David" in conducting joint tours.


    About a million foreign tourists visit it annually, and they listen to biblical accounts that falsely attribute its holdings to the periods of the "first and second temples", while ignoring the many Islamic monuments.


    The center organizes visits to a museum of the battalion that occupied Al-Aqsa and Al-Buraq Square and displays its holdings. It also presents imaginary models about the mechanism of lifting stones for the construction of the Temple and wooden models of cranes allegedly from the "Second Temple" era, in an attempt to explain the enormity of the Al-Aqsa stones.


    The center overlooks thousands of Islamic assets in the Umayyad palaces, such as coins, pottery pieces, mosaics, arches, niches, sinks, and steam baths, many of which are attributed to the Jewish era.

    It is claimed, for example, that the healing and steam baths that were housed in the Umayyad palaces were purifiers that were used by the pioneers of the so-called "temple".


    The center also hosts events such as Israeli puberty and marriage ceremonies, academic seminars, and activities of a cultural, political and sometimes security nature, all of which take place on the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

    Pictures from the top of Al-Quds Castle (Al-Jazeera)

  • Western Wall Heritage Authority and Fund

    : It was established under the auspices of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in October 1988, with the aim of supervising excavations and tunnels and transforming Al-Buraq Square “to a complex for the Jewish people and to revive their memory and affiliation with the Temple Mount.”


    Many Islamic buildings along the western corridor of Al-Aqsa were damaged due to the network of tunnels, including the western tunnel.

    This fund has religious authority over all Jews who visit this huge Judaizing complex.


    This center includes a museum built on the lower rocky layers claiming to be from the "Temple" era. It also contains a synagogue, a library, and a view of the Al-Buraq Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

    Huge stones that one of the tour guides claimed - in his speech to a foreign tourist group - that they belong to the "Second Temple" period (the island)

    Researcher Amr points out the seriousness of the activity of this center, as it is the closest to the mosque to Al-Aqsa, and it uses means such as models and light shows in which the visitor passes through stages in a tunnel of 500 meters in length, and exits from it taking a completely distorted picture of the history of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.


    Here, a narrative is implanted in the minds of visitors to the effect that the huge stones and boulders in the wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the tunnels inside it are from the time of the alleged “Temple” and have absolutely nothing to do with the monotheistic Jebusite and Canaanite prophetic architecture and the subsequent architecture of Al-Aqsa.