Police ‘in Jerusalem holy site’
By admin. Filed in Uncategorized |
Israeli police say they have entered a compound in Jerusalem containing
the al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.
Police said they entered the compound to disperse at least 20
Palestinians who were throwing stones at visitors.
The site also contains the Western Wall, a sacred site for Jews.
Tensions have been high in recent days following clashes in the West
Bank town of Hebron over Israel listing two disputed shrines as
heritage sites.
A Palestinian official said the group of youths had spent the night in
the al-Aqsa mosque to prevent what they believed to be Jewish
extremists from praying at the sensitive site.
An Israeli police spokesman said calm had been restored to the compound
and visits resumed.
The spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said Muslim men under the age of 50 had
been barred from the site, while older men, women of all ages and
children had been permitted to enter.
The Jerusalem complex, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews
as Temple Mount, has long been contested.
Clashes erupted at the site last September after Muslims threw stones
at people they believed to be Jewish extremists trying to pray at the
al-Aqsa mosque.
A visit to the compound in 2000 by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon,
later prime minister, led to clashes that escalated into years of
violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The compound containing the mosque lies in east Jerusalem’s Old City,
which has been controlled by Israel since they captured it in the 1967
war.
Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state while
Israel says the city must remain in its control and undivided.
Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from the spot
in the complex marked by the Dome of the Rock.
The site is holy to Jews because it is where the First and Second
Temples were built according to the Old Testament, with the Western
Wall still remaining.
