On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he supported “peaceful popular resistance” and backed “those who are protecting Al-Aqsa mosque”.
Advertisement
But the Israeli premier reserved the bulk of blame for Palestinian authorities in Gaza and in Ramallah, whom he accused of inciting the assaults through unfounded rumors regarding the delicate status quo on the Temple Mount, the site in Jerusalem’s Old City that is holy to the world’s three monotheistic religions.
In the past few weeks, Israel has seen several similar attacks.
The latest round of violence began in September, when right-wing Jewish parliament members and other Jews visited the Temple Mount, and Muslims stockpiled rocks and metal bars inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Under a longstanding arrangement between Israel and the Islamic authorities who administer the site, Jews are allowed to visit during certain hours but not pray there. The step was meant to reduce tensions and deny Palestinians a pretext for the continuing wave of terror.The step boomeranged after the Prime Minister’s Office clarified Thursday that the order applied to Arab lawmakers and public figures as well as Jewish ministers and lawmakers.
“The prime minister can not just order to violate people’s freedom of movement”, Mr Zahalka said after he was blocked from ascending to the compound by the Israeli police on Thursday.
“Netanyahu continues to be dragged after the settlers’ leadership in the coalition and is deteriorating all of us into the abyss”. Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi thereupon announced that he would lead a large Arab delegation to Friday prayers on Temple Mount.
The Israeli army also fired foul-smelling “skunk bombs” at the area.
Periodic Israeli decisions to bar Muslim men under the age of 50 from praying at the mosque – the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism – inflame tensions further.
Advertisement
Women of all ages will be permitted to enter the Temple Mount, but access for men will be limited to the over 50s.
