JERUSALEM
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Saturday fiercely criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after he called for preventing Israeli settlers from breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
He wrote on his Facebook page that by calling for preventing Jews from visiting the area Abbas wanted to spark tensions in the region by making use of the most sensitive place in this region.
Lieberman even accused Abbas and the Palestinian Authority of standing behind what he described as the "riots" of the residents of East Jerusalem.
Abbas called on Friday for preventing Israeli settlers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque.
"This is our mosque [Al-Aqsa}, and this is our church and they [the settlers] do not have the right to enter them and defile them," Abbas said during a conference on the defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Lieberman, meanwhile, said these remarks revealed the "true" face of the Palestinian Authority President.
He accused him of denying the Holocaust and being anti-Semite, saying Abbas talked about the establishment of a Palestinian state that does not have Jews in it.
The Israeli Foreign Minister added that Abbas incited the international community against Israel and even called for a religious war.
Lieberman said Abbas was no different from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant movement, which had overrun vast territories in both Iraq and Syria and massacres innocent people in both states.
He said like this movement, the Palestinian Authority President cherished religious wars.
www.aa.com.tr/en
