JERUSALEM: Clashes broke out at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque compound yesterday as dozens of Palestinian youths protested against Jews visiting the flashpoint holy site ahead of a religious feast, Israeli police said.
The youths threw stones and fired flares at police after Jewish visitors ascended to the compound on the eve of the week-long holiday Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
The site houses the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. Non-Muslim visits to the Al Aqsa complex are permitted and regulated by police, but Jews are not allowed to pray at the site for fear it could trigger major disturbances. Jews pray instead at the Western Wall below.
Police pushed demonstrators away from the area above the Western Wall and towards the Al Aqsa mosque, from where they threw stones and petrol bombs, lightly wounding four officers, Samri said, adding that the visit then went ahead.
Witnesses nearby heard several explosions from the compound. Police regularly throw stun grenades and sometimes fire rubber or sponge bullets to disperse protesters. Samri said five protesters were arrested and Palestinian medics said 17 were injured in yesterday’s clashes.
Azzam Al Khatib, director of the Islamic Waqf (religious endowments) body that oversees the site, said he had implored police to prevent Jews from visiting in order to avoid clashes with a group of Muslims who had spent the night at the mosque.
“I asked that there would be no contact, but police refused, and this is the result,” he said.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas accused the Israeli government of complicity in allowing Jewish “extremists” into the compound. “Aggression against the blessed Al Aqsa mosque is increasing, led by settlers and extremists, sponsored by the Israeli government,” he said. Jordan also condemned Israeli security forces’ conduct at the holy site.
AFP
