Israeli police enter Al-Aqsa, cause damage
AL-QUDS — Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at occupied Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday just hours before the start of the Jewish New Year, police and witnesses said.
The clashes came with tensions running high after Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon last week outlawed two Muslim groups that confront Jewish visitors to the compound.
Palestinian witnesses said police entered the mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, and caused damage. Authorities have used the same tactic in the past.
According to police, the rioters had barricaded themselves in the mosque overnight with the aim of disrupting visits by Jews to the site ahead of the start of New Year celebrations on Sunday evening.
A Muslim witness said the police entered the mosque much further than would have been needed to close the doors and of causing damage, saying prayer mats were partially burned.
Police said calm later returned to the mosque complex, though clashes continued outside in the narrow alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City, with police firing tear gas and stun grenades.
An eyewitness saw a number of people being detained and heavy police deployments in the Old City.
The defense minister’s move last week banned the Murabitat and Murabitun groups, which he said was necessary to “defend the security of the state, the well-being of the public and public order.”
His office said the groups were “a main factor in creating the tension and violence” at the mosque compound.
Non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound, but Jews are forbidden from praying or displaying national symbols for fear of triggering tensions with Muslim worshipers.
Muslims fear Israel will seek to change rules governing the site, with far-right Jewish groups pushing for more access and even efforts by fringe organizations to erect a new temple.
Israel seized east Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Al-Aqsa is the site of frequent clashes between police and Muslim activists.
In late July, Israeli police entered Al-Aqsa as they clashed with Palestinians angered by Jews’ access to the compound on an annual day of Jewish mourning.
The July clashes marked the first time Israeli security forces had entered the mosque since November, when clashes with worshipers also erupted. — AFP
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