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Posted on 06/06/2005 7:11:51 AM PDT by Alouette
In a new burst of violence, several hundred Arabs pelted police and Jewish visitors with stones on the Temple Mount Monday, lightly injuring two Jewish visitors and a police officer, as the nation marked Jerusalem Day and the reunification of the capital thirty-eight years ago.
Police fired several stun grenades to disperse the rioters, and arrested a Palestinian who tried to attack a Jewish visitor, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
The violence broke out at 9:15 a.m. as a small group of Jewish visitors who were touring the ancient compound accompanied by police came under a hail of stones.
Police quickly rushed reinforcements into the Temple Mount, and dispersed the rioters with stun grenades.
After being rebuffed by police, several hundred Arab teens retreated towards the al Aksa Mosque, where they congregated for a tense half hour, chanting nationalist slogans and waving the flags of the Islamic Movement.
After restoring order, most of the police forces left the compound, and returned to their positions at the nearby Mughrabi Gate leading into the Temple Mount about an hour later.
Jewish visitors regularly tour Judaism's holiest site, where two biblical temples once stood, but Israeli authorities do not allow them to pray there or enter the mosques at the compound out of fear of angering Muslims who administer the site.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the unrest on the Temple Mount, and said the Jews should not have been allowed into the compound.
"The Israeli government and the international community must stop these unjustified and dangerous violations," he said during a tour of a Palestinian high school in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
In response to the morning rioting, police banned all non-Muslim entry to the compound for the duration of the day, and imposed age restrictions on midday Muslim prayers at the site, barring all Arab men under the age of 45 from entering the compound.
The Jerusalem Day clashes took police by surprise, since they were preparing for Jewish - not Arab - protests at the entrance to the site.
Indeed on Sunday, Israel's Supreme Court had barred two ultra-nationalist Jewish groups from entering the super-sensitive holy site, rejecting an appeal by the fringe groups against a police decision not to let them into the compound.
Several dozens members of one of the groups, The Temple Mount Faithful, which wants to rebuild the Jewish temple at the site, were prevented by police from entering the compound.
"We will liberate the Temple Mount," read signs carried by the group during a march around the Old City walls.
Marchers also hoisted a cardboard coffin marked "disengagement," in opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four isolated northern West Bank settlements in just over two months time.
The Temple Mount - revered by Jews as Judaism's holiest site and by Arabs as Islam's third holiest site - has been a flash-point of violence in years past.
Tensions last flared at the site in April after an ultra-nationalist Jewish group announced that they were going to bring thousands of people up to the Mount in protest against the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The rally was thwarted by police who shut down the compound for the day.
A demonstrative visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the Jerusalem holy site in August 2000 triggered violent protests, which was used by the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to ignite more than four years of Palestinian violence.
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End the Islamic prescence on the Temple Mount. Since they blame Jews for everything, give them something to really whine and snivel about!
Awww..... It's the religion of peace......
Kill It!
End the Islamic prescence .
.
ML/NJ
Patience...
Israeli authorities are planning to disarm and eject Israelis from the settlements this summer. They've warned their citizens to get their children out of the areas if they want to protect them from traumatic scenes.
That's going to start a full-blown Israeli civil war. Sharon and his government are going to be overthrown by Israelis who refuse to kill other Israelis. After that happens, the Palestinians better watch out. It's not the liberals who are going to win that civil war...it's going to be the hardline religious groups. They'll take the temple mount back and then deal with Syria, Iran, and anyone else who wants a good butt-kicking.
Amen, Amen, and AAAAAAMEN!
and I say again...nuke that Borg cube which sits in Mecca.
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