Provocation and security clampdown in E. Jerusalem

Reports from Ma’an news and Haaretz

Palestinian employees clean up debris inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque a day after violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police on April 17, 2014 in the Old City of Jerusalem. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded in the clashes that erupted yesterday when Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound was opened to Jewish visitors. Photo by Ahmad Gharabli /AFP /Getty Images

Abbas: Israel transforming political conflict into religious war

By Ma’an news
October 09, 2014

RAMALLAH — President Mahmoud Abbas warned Israel on Wednesday against turning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict into a religious war, stressing that recent attacks on Muslim worshippers in the Al-Aqsa mosque threatened to nature of the national struggle.

Abbas said in a televised statement from his presidential headquarters in Ramallah that Palestinians and “the world know the dangers of using religion in political conflicts; we must all see what goes around us and Israel must pay attention and understand that such steps are dangerous to both Israel and others.”

He added that Israel’s attempts to open a second gate for Jews to enter the compound, altering the religious status quo, was a provocation about which Palestinians “could not remain silent.”

Abbas also warned that the same kinds of provocations are happening at the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, where worshippers are prevented from praying inside “as if Israel wants to completely cancel the Islamic existence of the mosque.”

The Ibrahimi mosque has been split into a Jewish section and a Muslim section since a Jewish extremist opened fire and killed more than two dozen worshipers there in 1994.

“Palestinians will not remain silent,” Abbas said. “Clashes happen every day, and Palestinians get wounded and killed in order to resist Israeli violations of the al-Aqsa and Ibrahimi mosques.”

Dozens injured in Aqsa clashes

Abbas’ remarks came after clashes broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police officers earlier in the day, leaving dozens hurt.

Security guards at the mosque told Ma’an that Israeli forces stormed the compound at 7:30 a.m. ahead of expected visits by right-wing Israelis on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, or the Feast of the Tabernacles.

Israeli forces forcibly removed worshippers, attacking some of them with clubs, the guards said.

Some Muslim worshippers clashed with Israeli officers in the compound before managing to take refuge inside the mosque.

As worshippers threw stones, soldiers fired tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets, injuring dozens of Palestinians, Al-Aqsa Mosque director Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani said.

Some of the stun grenades were fired into the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself, causing a fire to break out, and fire fighters were not immediately allowed access to the area, al-Kiswani added.

“The compound is almost empty of Muslim worshippers, while Israeli forces allowed herds of extremists to storm it and move freely,” he said.

Witnesses said that eventually Israeli forces succeeded in forcefully removing Palestinians from the compound, besides those who had taken refuge in the mosque itself.

Instead, they closed the doors of the mosque and locked them with chains, trapping worshippers inside, the witnesses said.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld tweeted about the incident, saying “masked Arabs” threw “stones/blocks/iron bars” at Israeli forces near the Moroccan gate.

Three police officers were lightly injured, Rosenfeld said.

Since Tuesday morning, Israeli forces have restricted access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, only allowing Palestinian worshippers aged 60 and up to enter.

Elderly men and women have had to leave their identity cards with the police officers at the entrances of the compound.

Police, rioters clash on Temple Mount

Dozens of protesters, some of them masked, throw rocks and firecrackers as holy site opens for visitors. Palestinian president accuses Israel of trying to take over Al Aqsa compound.

By Nir Hasson and Jack Khoury, Haaretz
October 08, 2014

Three police officers were wounded on Wednesday in clashes between police and Palestinian rioters at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Clashes erupted early on Wednesday morning and five Palestinian rioters were arrested after Israeli Jews and tourists were allowed by Israeli authorities to go onto the Temple Mount for the eve of the Jewish holiday Sukkot. The Temple Mount – which Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary – is the site of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and while it is under Israeli police control, it is ordinarily off-limits to Jews for religious and security reasons.

Dozens of Palestinians, some wearing masks, hurled rocks and firecrackers at police officers, who were able to push the rioters back into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Two firebombs were thrown from inside the mosque, police said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in response to the clashes that the repeated breaches of Israeli security forces into the Al Aqsa Mosque compound constitute an “Israeli attempt to create facts on the ground and take over the mosque compound.” He warned that Israeli policy will turn the existing diplomatic conflict into a religious one.

The director of the Jerusalem Wakf, Sheikh Azzam el-Khatib, said Israel had provoked the disturbances by opening the ordinarily locked Mugrabi Gate and allowing non-Muslim worshippers to enter the Temple Mount for Sukkot, a step Khatib said was taken without coordination with the Wakf. “Israel bears responsibility for incidents at Al Aqsa Mosque, and in recent days we have warned of the consequences of opening Mugrabi Gate,” he said. “We have asked the Jordanian govenrment to intervene immediately because what is happening lately at the Al Aqsa compound has become intolerable and very dangerous.”

Three police officers were lightly wounded and treated on the spot. Police said that the situation was “under control” and that the Temple Mount was open again to visitors.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered security forces to crack down on riots in East Jerusalem in the wake of continued violence in the area.

Netanyahu called on security officials to stem the violence “not just ahead of the holidays, but in a fundamental manner.”

The Jerusalem police stated that any attempt to disturb the peace would be met with zero tolerance.