Jerusalem: A photos of Palestinian worshipers staring at the Israeli forces during raids on Al Aqsa Mosque has been doing rounds on social media, amid mass incursions by groups of illegal Jewish settlers in occupied East Jerusalem.
Netizens are sharing photos with the hashtag #not_budging.
One of the viral videos shows, a young Palestinian woman staring at an armed Israeli soldier. The video has prompted the phrase ‘not budging’.
The phrase ‘not budging’, comes from a popular Palestinian song by Kifah Zraiqi, says, I am the son of Jerusalem, or Ana Ibn Il-Quds. In the song, Zraiqi says “I am the son of Jerusalem, I’m not budging, I’m staying [sitting] right here”.
The most popular photo that sparked this trend #not_budging is an image of a Palestinian man lying on his side, resting his head on his arm and watching a group of fully armed officers standing in front of him.
Another picture showed a man leaning against a wall and holding his mobile phone while an Israeli officer was a few meters away.
Another viral video showed a Palestinian child reciting from the Quran in the courtyard of Al Aqsa while settlers walked by on their tour.
Eddin Aljabri, a senior producer at Arabic Post, took to Twitter and wrote, “Another thunder with a brave heart. A Jerusalemite child defies the settlers and sits in the path of their storming of Al Aqsa masjid this morning.”
Another video shows, women reciting the Quran in front of the Israeli forces and its settlers during their storming of Al Aqsa Mosque.
On Sunday, 545 Israeli settlers stormed the mosque, 561 entered on Monday, and 762 more entered on Thursday, according to the Waqf, the Jordanian-run trust that oversees the holy site.
Israeli settlers storm the Mosque’s courtyards, under police guard, on all days of the week, except for Friday and Saturday.
Tensions escalated this week as Israeli forces continued to assault worshipers at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and remove them out of the compound daily to allow Israeli settlers to tour the revered site.
Al Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, West Bank, and the Gaza Strip during the six-day Arab-Israeli War in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank.
