JERUSALEM: Weekly Muslim prayers at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al Aqsa mosque passed without incident despite high tensions in the Holy City, but stone-throwing Palestinians rioted in the West Bank city of Hebron.
After Israeli authorities dropped age restrictions for attending Friday prayers for the second week running, tens of thousands of people made their way to the Al Aqsa mosque compound in occupied Arab east Jerusalem. Police were out in force to prevent a repeat of clashes, led by young Palestinians, that have rocked the city for months.
“The police are on stand-by in different areas to respond if necessary to any disturbances... There are extra units in and around the Old City,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Men and women of all ages shuffled into the compound, holy to both Jews and Muslims, as police carefully checked the identity cards of younger worshippers. Al Aqsa mosque director Amr Kaswani said up to 40,000 Muslims prayed.
The Palestinians have been infuriated by a far-right Jewish campaign for prayer rights at the compound that threatens an ultra-sensitive, decades-old status quo under which Jews can visit but not pray.
Earlier this month, Palestinians hurled rocks and firecrackers at police who entered the compound and the Al Aqsa mosque itself. Police had tried to preempt unrest by limiting male entry to those over 35. But Israel eased the restrictions last week after US Secretary of State John Kerry announced an agreement on steps to reduce tensions. Wasel Qassem, 35, said lifting the age bar might gradually help calm tempers.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions have also been stoked by plans for more Jewish settlement building in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
The international community condemns Israel’s policy of building on land that the Palestinians want for their future state.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday submitted to UN chief Ban Ki-moon a report on “Israeli violations of law in the occupied State of Palestine against Palestinian civilians.”
In his attached letter to Ban, Abbas slammed Israel’s settlement building and “denial of the right to access and worship at the Aqsa mosque compound.”
Israel is struggling to contain a spike in unrest in east Jerusalem that has seen a growing number of deadly attacks by Palestinians.
On Tuesday, two Palestinians killed five people at a synagogue in west Jerusalem — far from Al Aqsa and flashpoint eastern neighbourhoods — before being shot dead.
The city’s bloodiest attack in years, it followed a spate of “lone-wolf” attacks, including two incidents in which Palestinians ploughed cars into pedestrians, killing four people. Despite the lifting of restrictions, resentment simmered under the surface yesterday. “The age limitations are only lifted because it’s to their (Israel’s) benefit,” said 23-year-old Amir, an engineer who had come from Ramallah in the West Bank to pray for the first time since June.
AFP
