Clashes Erupt At Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa On Jewish Holiday

Israeli police said they made a rare but brief intrusion into the entrance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday, but only to close its doors to prevent “rioters” barricaded inside from continuing to throw rocks and firecrackers.

Israeli police stormed the mosque shortly after the skirmishes on Sunday morning and closed the gates of the compound, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the city reported.

Sources at the holy site said that the Israeli police cleared the paths, halls and gardens of Al Aqsa mosque, which the colonists sought to visit, after pledging to provide protection for colonists who carried out the raid. There were no immediate reports of any Palestinian casualties. “Non-Muslims are not allowed to pray or perform rituals in the mosque during this time”.

Israeli police, following long-standing procedures, do not venture further into the mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, and violence usually subsides quickly, as it did on Sunday, after Palestinian demonstrators take refuge inside.

Israeli media said the Palestinians had intended to disrupt visits by observant Jews to the Western Wall.

The altercation comes on the holiday Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning over the destruction of the Jewish temples in Jerusalem, which is often seen as a provocation by Palestinians. A woman, a child, and a youth were also arrested by the police outside the mosque compound.

The government’s official spokesperson, in a press statement, stressed that violating the sanctity of al-Aqsa mosque and assaulting its guards and worshipers is a clear attempt by Israel to provoke Muslims’ feelings worldwide, which he stressed, would only ignite feelings of hatred.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli police had fired teargas and rubber bullets at Muslim worshippers near the compound’s iconic Al-Aqsa and Al-Qibali mosques. “Such acts of hatred cannot be tolerated and we will not allow any disturbances to prevent Jews from praying at this holy site”.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the 1967 war, as the capital of a state they aspire to establish in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.