Clashes erupt at Temple Mount after 'Jewish conquest' rumour
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6889482.ece
Israeli police stormed Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site and fired stun grenades at rock-throwing Palestinian youths yesterday in new clashes at the al-Aqsa mosque compound.
The police action, which drew condemnation from across the Islamic world, came after local Muslim leaders claimed that Jews were attempting to conquer the mosque and claim it as their own. The narrow alleyways around the compound were the scene of tense stand-offs yesterday.
In a crossroads popularly known as the “point of conflict”, Palestinian teenagers taunted police by throwing rocks and chanting “God is great. The mosque is ours”. Police retaliated with stun grenades and formed barricades to disperse hundreds of protesters trying to push their way towards the mosque. Eighteen Palestinians and three Israeli police officers were injured, with 15 protesters taken into custody, officials said.
The site, which is the third-holiest in Islam and believed by the faithful to be the spot from where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, is governed under a delicate balancing act. While the compound has been under Israeli control since 1967, it is administered by a Muslim religious body known as the Waqf. It is only open for Muslims to pray, though there are several hours each day that tourists, including Jews, can visit.
Yesterday’s clashes meant that worshippers were unable to gain access. At one point, along a stone corridor adjacent to the mosque, dozens of older Palestinian men formed a makeshift group to pray. It was a solemn moment in the midst of the protests, which was interrupted when a group of Palestinian teenagers marched through and confronted Israeli police.
A 22-year-old, who gave his name as Amar, said he had been detained last week for hurling stones at a passing Israeli patrol, but had returned again yesterday. “They start this. They incite this, and then we respond and they make it look like we are the bad guys,” he told The Times.
“We are protecting something very important to us, and they know that this is important, and that’s why they try to make us angry by sending their settlers there.”
Dressed in jeans and T-shirts, many of the young Palestinians wrapped fabric around their faces in a makeshift mask so they could not be identified by police. One officer, who gave his first name as Danny, said the protests were unnecessary.
“These are kids that have been whipped into a frenzy by something they believe is happening here. This is all unnecessary, and at the end of the day serves no one.” Israeli police later cleared the area and announced that it would be reopened for prayer today.
Yesterday’s violence was only the latest in a long series of clashes at the compound. Local Arabic radio stations began broadcasting at the weekend that Jews were planning to enter the site to pray, or dig under the compound and harm buildings there, prompting calls for Muslims to go and defend the site.
Israeli officials said that they had carried out archaeological excavations in the area, but that the work did not threaten existing structures.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said the accusations against Israel were lies.
The compound in Jerusalem’s Old City is revered as the holiest site in Judaism, the location of the biblical Temples. Rabbi Yehuda Glick, the head of the Jewish Temple Mount Institute, campaigns for Jews to visit and pray at the compound: “I will be tolerant to Muslim prayer on Temple Mount, but in this democratic country everyone has the right to pray in the holiest site in the world,” he said.
