Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, was interviewed on Palestinian television on Wednesday, 16 September about the violent riots on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem that were initiated by radical Islamists. During the interview, Abbas made highly inflammatory comments that incite to violence and deny Jewish and Christian rights in Jerusalem.

Abbas incited to violence, terrorism and bloodshed in Jerusalem: "We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every shaheed (martyr) will be in heaven, and every wounded will get his reward." He went on to express an extreme, one-sided and uncompromising position that only the Palestinians have rights to Jerusalem: "...Al-Aqsa is ours and the (Church of the) Holy Sepulcher is ours. Everything is ours."

Abbas also praised and encouraged the illegal activities of the Mourabitoun and Mourabitat, two radical Islamist organizations whose activists are paid to harass Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount. These organizations were recently outlawed due to the grave threat they pose to public order.

Today the world is divided between those trying to undermine religious coexistence and those trying to protect it. By saying that the "filthy feet" of Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount desecrate it, Mahmoud Abbas has now clarified on which side he stands.

Full text of Abbas' statement:

"We bless you; we bless the Mourabitoun and the Mourabitat. We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every shaheed (martyr) will be in heaven, and every wounded will get his reward.

All of their steps, we will not allow them. All these divisions, Al-Aqsa is ours, and the (Church of the) Holy Sepulcher is ours, everything is ours, all ours. They (the Jews) have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet and we won't allow them to."