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| Israel Eases Al-Aqsa Restrictions for Second Week | |||||
| 2014-11-22 | |||||
[AnNahar] Israel eased age restrictions for Friday prayers at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque for a second straight week, allowing tens of thousands to attend despite high tensions following a wave of violence.
"The police are on stand-by in different areas to respond if necessary to any disturbances... there are extra units in and around the Old City," police front man Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. Paleostinian men and women of all ages shuffled into the Al-Aqsa compound, holy to both Moslems and Jews, as police carefully checked the identity cards of younger worshipers. Clashes at the site are usually led by younger Paleostinian men, some of whom earlier this month hurled rocks and firecrackers at police who entered the compound and the Al-Aqsa mosque itself. The Paleostinians have been infuriated by a far-right Jewish campaign for prayer rights at compound that threatens an ultra-sensitive, decades-old status quo under which Jews can visit but not pray. Police had tried to preempt unrest by limiting male entry to those over 35. But Israel eased the restrictions at Al-Aqsa last week after U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... announced agreement during talks in Jordan on steps to reduce tensions in the city. Wasel Qassem, 35, said the lifting of the age bar might gradually help calm tempers. "Restrictions were the main cause" of tension, said the radiotherapist who was able to pray at the site for the first time in several weeks. "Al-Aqsa is an obvious cause for another intifada," or uprising, he said, adding that a spate of Paleostinian attacks in Jerusalem was perceived as "Dire Revenge or defense" of the compound. The site, the third-holiest in Islam and the holiest to Jews who call it the Temple Mount, has been the focus of months of unrest in Israeli-annexed Arab east Jerusalem. Israel controls entry to the site in the heart of east Jerusalem's Old City, although it is administered by Jerusalem's Moslem authorities while Jordan acts as custodian. Israel is struggling to contain a spike in unrest in annexed Arab east Jerusalem that has seen a growing number of deadly attacks by Paleostinians. On Tuesday two Paleostinians killed five people at a synagogue in west Jerusalem before being rubbed out by police -- an incident that took place far from Al-Aqsa and flashpoint eastern neighborhoods. The attack, the bloodiest in the city for years, followed a spate of "lone-wolf" attacks, including two incidents in which Paleostinians ploughed cars into pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing four people. The lifting of the age restriction appeared to calm tensions around the site last week, and early Friday there were none of the habitual festivities between Paleostinian youths and Israeli police. But under the surface, Paleostinian resentment simmered.
"People are afraid of coming. The situation here is very risky," he said.
"Al-Aqsa is very important. A lot of people would die for it," he said.
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| Posted by:trailing wife |