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Occupied Jerusalem -

The Jerusalem Governorate, a Palestinian governmental body, said that since January 20, Israeli settlers have transformed the Okasha Mosque, northwest of Jerusalem, into a Jewish synagogue, and claimed that it contained a grave belonging to Benjamin, the brother of the Prophet Joseph, peace be upon him.

In a report from the place, Al Jazeera Net reveals that the part that was actually converted into a synagogue is a building topped with a dome, in which the bodies of Muslim leaders are buried. It is adjacent to the mosque designated for performing prayers and closed by the occupation, which turned its yard into a park for settlers.

The settlers placed candlesticks inside the shrine and biblical scrolls, and prayed in front of Islamic gravestones covered with white cloth.

The Israeli narrative, which is based on settlement ambitions, denies the features of the place. The mihrab, the arched structure, the dome, and the graves are all evidence of the Islamic history and identity of the place. Perhaps the minaret remains the best witness.

Extended history

In the 1920s, Jews stormed the mosque and destroyed its contents. It was then closed completely after the occupation of Jerusalem in 1948, and the area around it turned into neighborhoods for religious Jews.

The researcher specializing in Jerusalem affairs, Ihab Al-Jallad, talks about the history of the place, the story of the graves dating back to the Mamluk and Ayyubid eras, its uses throughout the ages, and the failure of attempts to restore it.

Al-Jallad says that the current mosque’s construction dates back to the Ottoman period, and it has a strategic location on the Jerusalem-Jaffa road, which travelers used as a rest stop.

He points out that the Islamic graves belong to princes and military leaders from the Mamluk period, and they, based on the book “The Venerable Man in the History of Jerusalem and Hebron,” are: the martyr prince Husam al-Din Abu al-Hasan bin Abi al-Fawaris al-Qaymari, and his death in the middle ten days of Dhul-Qa’dah in the year 648 AH/1250 AD. Prince Dia al-Din bin Abi al-Fawaris, and his death on the 10th of Dhul-Qi’dah in the year 648 AH/1250 AD, and Prince Hussam al-Din Khidr al-Qaymari, and his death on the 14 of Dhul-Qi’dah in the year 661 AH/1262 AD, and Prince Nasir al-Din Abu al-Hasan al-Qaymari, and his death on the tenth of Safar in the year 665 AH/1266 AD. And Prince Nasser al-Din Muhammad Jaber Bey, one of the princes of al-Tablakhana in the Levant, and overseer of the Two Holy Mosques in Jerusalem and Hebron, and he died in the year 776 AH/1374 AD.

Source: Al Jazeera