[IsraelTimes] Worshipers burst into area shuttered by Israeli police in 2003 for Friday prayers, but eventually disperse peacefully.Thousands of Paleostinian protesters on Friday burst into a section of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount that has been closed by Israeli court order for over 15 years.
Paleostinians chanting "Allahu Akbar" streamed into a sealed-off area of al-Aqsa Mosque during prayers. Israeli police said the crowds dispersed peacefully afterward.
The Gate of Mercy, or Golden Gate, was sealed by Israeli authorities in 2003 because the group managing the area had ties to Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",, and it has been kept closed to stop illegal construction work there by the Waqf, custodians of the holy site. Israeli officials believe the work has led to the destruction of antiquities from periods of Jewish presence in the area.
Tensions have escalated at the contested compound. Similar protests turned into scuffles with police earlier this week. Anticipating unrest, police nabbed
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
60 Paleostinians Thursday overnight suspected of "causing disturbances."
Police accused the Waqf of trying to "change the status quo" at the sensitive site by convening in the closed area last week.
The Temple Mount, the location of the biblical Jewish Temples, and now of the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine, has in recent years become an epicenter of tensions between Israelis and Paleostinians.
Paleostinian fears about purported Israeli plans to change the 52-year arrangement on the Temple Mount ‐ where the Waqf maintains administrative control and the Israel Police security control ‐ have become a daily staple in Paleostinian political rhetoric and media reports in recent years. Multiple car-rammings, stabbings and shootings have been attributed by Paleostinian attackers to the alleged efforts by Israel to alter the status quo at the site, according to which Jews may visit but not pray there.
The Israeli government has insisted it does not intend to change the status quo.
60 arrested as police brace for Temple Mount violence after Friday prayers
[IsraelTimes] Security forces say dozens in custody, with further arrests expected ahead of prayers at flashpoint Jerusalem compound
Security forces were gearing up Friday morning for anticipated violence ahead of Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount as police announced 60 people were arrested overnight on suspicion of planning violence.
The Kan public broadcaster reported the arrested individuals were all residents of East Jerusalem.
A spokesman for the police said the crackdown came after “calls for public disturbances” at Friday prayers.
Police said in a statement they expect to make further arrests in the coming hours, and that they would act to ensure prayers could take place as planned.
Palestinian worshipers clashed with Israeli police at the site on Tuesday, trying to force their way into an area of the holy compound that has been closed for years. Police said 19 Palestinians were arrested.
The incident followed a similar confrontation on Monday in which Palestinians tried to break the gate that Israel placed on the closed area last week after the Muslim Waqf religious council broke into the area and held prayers there.
Palestinian medics reported that several protesters were injured in the standoff.
According to Haaretz, the Jordanian government, which controls the Waqf, enlarged its council from 11 to 18 members last week. For the first time, Palestinian Authority officials and religious leaders were installed in the body, which has historically been made up of individuals close to the Jordanian monarchy.
The change is a bid by Amman to begin to share responsibility for the holy site, the location of the biblical Jewish Temples, and now of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine, which in recent years has become an epicenter of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
The newspaper said the ongoing tensions at the site are part of the reason for the expansion of the Waqf council by Jordan. Amman first considered the move in the wake of violent protests that followed a terror attack in which Palestinian gunmen killed Israeli police officers guarding the Temple Mount in mid-2017.