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Photo:
Al-Aqsa mosque and compound. Published by IMEMC News
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by IMEMC News

In occupied East Jerusalem, Wednesday, Israeli authorities constructed a metal fence with barbed wire, on Sultan Suleiman Street, near the Damascus Gate of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, Palestinian Shehab News agency reported.

Eyewitnesses said that the fence was placed around the perimeter of the stairs leading to the ancient Damascus Gate; a bulldozer was also reportedly seen digging.

Initial reports indicate that Israeli occupation forces will remove trees and tiles from the area, and continue construction inside the garden and close to nearby caves.

The unilateral decision, by U.S. President Donald Trump, to declare the occupied city of Jerusalem as the ‘undivided capital of Israel,’ has encouraged Israel’s policies of removing signs of the indigenous population, and replacing it with illegal Jewish settlers.

Illegal colonialist settler groups have increasingly stormed the Muslim holy site, under full Israeli police protection, while many thousands of Palestinians are either banned or unable to enter the occupied city, due to checkpoints, the Annexation wall, or the siege of Gaza.