Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Monday slammed the reopening of the Hurva synagogue in Jerusalem, calling it a prelude for the destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The synagogue, first built in 1694, was blown to pieces in 1948 after Jordanian forces captured the Old City from troops of the newly established state of Israel, during the battle for control of Jerusalem. It was rededicated on Monday, 62 years later, in a ceremony held against a backdrop of heightened political and religious tensions in the city, with thousands of Israeli police deployed amid fears of unrest.

Meshaal slammed the ceremony as "a falsification of history and Jerusalem's religious and historic monuments. Israel is playing with fire and touching off the first spark to make the region explode."

The Hamas leader urged Palestinians in Jerusalem to "take serious measures to protect Al-Aqsa mosque from destruction and Judaisation."

He also called on Palestinians in Gaza and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to "launch a campaign to protect Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian holy sites there." 

-AFP/NOW Lebanon