‘Obama al-Aqsa visit declaration of war’

Musheer al Masri, a Hamas representative in the al-Aqsa Mosque, made the remarks in an address to a group of Palestinians in Israel-occupied West Bank on Friday.
 
Al Masri called for a third Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israel, if Obama chooses to visit the Temple Mount, where al-Aqsa Mosque is located.
 
Obama will be arriving in the occupied territories later this month. However, Washington is yet to confirm Obama’s visit to the Temple Mount.
 
The democratically-elected Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh on Friday described the visit as a trap to undermine the Palestinian reconciliation process.
 
“We are convinced that Obama’s visit will not produce the necessary breakthrough for our people,” he said, addressing the Friday prayers in the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh also said acting Palestinian Authority Chief, Mahmoud Abbas should “not fall into the trap of Obama’s visit to the region and shut the door to reconciliation.”
 
    Obama’s visit “will focus on regional developments and will only address our cause in a way to undermine Palestinian national reconciliation efforts and to relaunch the absurd so-called negotiations” with Israel, Haniyeh said.
 
 
During a meeting with American Jewish community leaders at the White House on Thursday, Obama signaled that there would be no big Middle East peace initiative on the table during his trip to the Palestinian occupied territories.