Noor O. Alyacoubi 

Over the centuries, the Israeli occupation has never stopped its attempts to Judaize the occupied city of Palestine and change its identity and culture. Yet, all of its efforts went in vain due to the Palestinians' persistence, resistance, and steadfastness. The Castle of Al-Quds is one of the most important Palestinian landmarks that has been subjected to excavation works and Zionist claims of ownership. 

Castle of Al-Quds is located in the northern west side of the Old City of Al-Quds inside Bab Al-Khalil, measuring approximately 6.5 dunums. It was built in 1310 during the Mamluk era by Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun, commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad, to be as an impregnable fortress, protecting the city from any invasions or wars. It witnessed the sequence of several time periods, extending from the 2nd century BC up to the Othman era. In each era, an architecture was either built or renovated by a ruling group.

Islamic architecture exposed to Judaizational attempts 
The castle has military fortifications like spinners, which were used to drop hot oils on the enemies and shoot swords. It also contains two mosques, one of which was transferred into a museum by the Israeli occupation, which later tended to name the Castle of Al-Quds as "David" relative to King David, who was sent to people of Israel, long years ago. Later on, it named Fasayel Tower -established during the Roman era- as David yet research found that there is no relationship between the tower and King David.

In the eighteens of the last century, Israeli occupation authorities made the Castle of Al-Quds as a place for local and foreign tourism, and turned it into a museum containing rooms that describe the history of the Holy City of Al-Quds from an Israeli point of view, using photos and sculptures in order to promote the narrative of Al-Quds as Jewish since eternity.

Excavations under the Castle
Since occupying it in 1967 until today, the Israeli occupation has never stopped carrying out excavation works under the castle, which started during the Othman era. Britain sent archeologists to dig under Al-Quds and study the features of the city, one of these excavations was under Al-Quds castle.
In the past three years, the Israeli occupation has densely dug under the castle. The Information Center for Jerusalem assured that excavations under the castle reach 80 meters in length and 15 meters in width. As a result of these excavations, ancient Islamic monuments from the Umayyad period and subsequent Islamic periods were discovered.