Clashes as Israel police enter Al Aqsa mosque

Israeli police entered Al Aqsa mosque on Sunday to tackle suspected Palestinian ‘rioters’.

JERUSALEM // Violent clashes broke out at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem yesterday when ultranationalist Israeli hardliners tried to enter the compound.

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned Israeli authorities for allowing what they described as a “provocative” intrusion.

Palestinian protesters threw stones and fireworks and police replied with stun grenades.

Police said they went a few metres into the mosque to shut the doors in an effort to restore calm. About 300 security personnel had entered the compound when the clashes began.

It was the first time Israeli security forces had entered the mosque since November, when clashes with worshippers also erupted.

Yesterday’s protests began when hardline Jews sought to access the mosque compound for Tisha B’av, an annual day of Jewish mourning commemorating the destruction in ancient times of the first and second Jewish temples.

Palestinians were angered by the intrusion. Visits are allowed but Jewish prayer at the site is prohibited. Tensions were already high after a Jewish woman publicly made insulting comments about the Prophet Mohammed last week.

The hilltop compound in Jerusalem’s Old City is the most sacred site in Judaism and Islam’s third holiest, after Mecca and Medina. Jews refer to the site as the Temple Mount.

Police said that after their foray into the mosque, they withdrew and the area was quiet.

Access to the site was later restricted.

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,” said Khaled Tuffaha, a 46-year-old Palestinian shop owner. “Everybody is ready to die.”

One 22-year-old Jewish religious student, carrying a Torah, admitted he had been in the compound during the clashes but argued that Jews and Muslims should share access.

At least three protesters were arrested and four police were slightly injured. One Palestinian man was bleeding from the head and protesters said others had also been injured.

Police reinforcements had deployed in the Old City overnight for fear of unrest as thousands of Jews flocked to the Western Wall for the annual prayer ceremony.

After Israeli police entered the mosque in November, Jordan, which is responsible for administering the compound, recalled its ambassador.

Israel seized east Jerusalem in the 1967 War and later illegally annexed it.

Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital but the Palestinians claim the eastern sector as the capital of their promised state.

Some Jewish ultranationalist fringe groups want to build a Jewish temple at the site.

* Agence France-Presse