Damascus, October 26: According to a warning received from Senior hamas leader, Israel is planning to bring down the Al-Aqsa mosque and replace it with a new temple in Al-Quds.

Khalid Meshaal, the exiled Hamas leader, said that this is the first step towards dividing the mosque and a plan set to demolish the mosque replacing it with a new temple. For the second time in recent weeks, Israeli police invaded the mosque arresting 12 Muslim worshipers. Within the compound of Al-Aqsa mosque, clashes took place between police and worshipers.

In a speech given in Damascus, khalid Meshaal sent out this warning to the Arab world asking them to respond immediately on this issue.

OHRTM, the Organization for Human Rights on the Temple Mount called for building a new temple in the Al-Aqsa temple. A rightist Israeli group, OHRTM announced this after Sundays meeting.

Ynet news reports that this conference was attended by several Rabbis and Knesset members.

Over the past month, tensions have been mounting high in the area, sparking a violent clash between the Israeli Extremists backed by Israel’s police force and Muslim worshipers when they tried to enter into the compound of Al-Aqsa mosque.

On Sunday, several people, most of them Muslim worshipers, were wounded in confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinians, in and around the holy site revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

“Jerusalem belongs to its Arab inhabitants, Muslims and Christians. The future (of the city) will not be settled at the negotiating table but on the ground of confrontation and resistance,” Meshaal said.

Israel has been denying rights to the Palestinian Muslims from praying in their own mosque. Heavy resistance has been seen from Israel towards granting permission to Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa in the recent years.

Several demonstrations were followed up after this in numerous Middle eastern countries including Iran and Turkey, which resulted in re-opening of the mosque just about two weeks ago.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference has also warned Israel of “dangerous consequences” for acts of sacrilege in the holy Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

The Arab peace initiative offers a road map for normalization of ties between Arabs and Israelis in return for an Israeli pullout from occupied Arab lands.  Saudi Arabia launched the initiative in 2002.

Regarding political settlement with Israel, Meshaal said that the US, under President Barack Obama, had failed to convince Israel to halt settlement activities for a year.

He said the Obama administration adopted the Israeli demand for Arab countries to recognise Israel as a Jewish state.

Aziz al-Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Al Jazeera that “the occupation is going on with its scheduled plan to demolish the al-Aqsa mosque, God forbid it, and to keep prayers away from it.”