[Ynet] Police force their way into al-Aqsa Mosque, where Arab youths equipped with stones and fireworks barricaded themselves overnight; coppers maimed; riot dispersed.Police forced their way into al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, with several officers maimed after Arab Arab youths threw stones and launched fireworks at them.
Jerusalem District Police received information that some youths had barricaded themselves inside the mosque overnight and collected stones, planks, and Molotov cocktails with the purpose of altercating with police and disturbing the visits of Jews arriving at the Temple Mount complex for Tisha B'Av prayers.
| There's a long tradition of Muslims gleefully hurling missiles from the Al Aqsa platform onto the heads of Jews praying at the Western Wall below. One simply can't understand the insistance of Israeli authorities on interfering. |
The youths, some of whom wore face masks, created barricades to prevent the door into the mosque from being closed using shoe racks, iron rods, and ropes.
When a police team approached the mosque, the youths started throwing stones and launching fireworks at them. Police and paramilitary Border Police forces entered the complex as the rioters escaped into the mosque and threw dozens of stones and concrete blocks.
Police began to remove the barricades placed at the entrance to the mosque. They went a few meters into the mosque to shut the doors in a bid to restore calm and lock in rioters who were inside.
About 300 security personnel had entered the compound when the festivities began with a couple of hundred Paleostinians, an AFP photographer reported.
The police said that after their brief foray into the mosque, they withdrew and the area was quiet. Access to the site was later restricted. Police said the Temple Mount complex was closed on time and that during the day it was visited by some 1,200 visitors.
At least three Paleostinians throwing stones were placed in durance vile
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
and four coppers were slightly maimed.
The Jordanian government condemned the police's response. Jordan's communications minister and government front man, Mohammad al-Momani, criticized "Israel's provocation against Arabs and Moslems by breaking into the al-Aqsa complex." According to al-Moman, the police activity hurt the feelings of all Arabs and Moslems and could lead to more hatred. He demanded that the Israeli government take responsibility as the "occupying power".
Protests broke out in the lanes and alleyways of the Old City around the mosque, with demonstrators confronting police and chanting "Allahu Akbar" and police firing stun grenades. Some vowed to protect Al-Aqsa, with one man saying the holy site "is in our blood."
"We are ready to die," Khaled Tuffaha, a 46-year-old Paleostinian shop owner. "Everybody is ready to die."
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel of Bayit Yehudi visited the Temple Mount on Sunday for the sacred day, a step that was coordinated with the Internal Security Ministry and the police.
The Jordanian government condemned the fact Jewish worshipers were allowed onto the Temple Mount, including Ariel (Bayit Yehudi). The Paleostinian foreign ministry also condemned Israeli authorities for allowing what they described as "provocative" visits by hardline Jews.
| The Times of Israel added: |
A group of Jews visiting the Temple Mount Thursday were being escorted out of the site into the alleys of the Old City when they were heckled by the Murabitun, self-proclaimed guardians of site -- holy to both Jews and Moslems -- who are funded by the Islamic Movement.
A woman from the Jewish group decided to respond, looking into the camera of a person assumed to be a member of the organization, and saying in Hebrew: "Muhammad is a pig."
The statement enraged the Moslem women in the organization, who then shouted insults and threats of violence at the Jewish woman. Border Police officers escorting the Jewish group had to place themselves between the two groups to prevent violence.