Under the headline "Fatah and the [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the occupation's invasion of al-Aqsa Mosque," the paper wrote: "The Fatah Movement emphasized that the Israeli occupation forces' invasion of the Aqsa Mosque yesterday, Friday [Jan. 17], in the early morning is an obvious violation of the Islamic holy sites, under clear American cover and with no deterrent.
"[Fatah] Movement spokesman Iyad Nasr noted yesterday, Friday, that this is a real war and ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people, its land, and its holy sites," the article said. "However, [the war] will not succeed in stealing from our people its will to remain and its standing firm on its land.' He added: 'We will defend our al-Aqsa Mosque and our holy sites, and we will not allow them [Israel] to violate them and pass the occupation's plots that strive to divide the holy city [Jerusalem] by areas, and times – whatever the cost may be.’"

Friday prayers were broken up by Israel Police at al-Aqsa on January 17 after a preacher told several hundred worshippers that Jerusalem would soon be the capital of an Islamic caliphate, and the crowd began to chant nationalistic slogans and cause disturbances.