Aletho News

Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa compound

Ma’an – 05/03/2010

Jerusalem – Dozens of Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces entered East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following the weekly Friday prayers, firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades.

At least 15 Israeli police officers were also injured by rocks thrown by Palestinians, Israeli news reports said. Some 200 police officers appeared on the scene, clashing with worshipers in the Haram Ash-Sharif, or noble sanctuary, which houses the mosque.

Forces were seen striking Palestinians with batons, injuring a number of elderly worshipers, and closed off gates into the Old City even before clashes erupted, preventing some worshipers from reaching the site.

The number of injuries amount to more than 60, among them a woman who sustained injuries after being shot with a bullet in the eye, while others sustained injuries to the feet, chest and hands when attacked with rubber-coated bullets.

Israeli forces were also seen preventing crews of Palestine Red Crescent medics from reaching and treating those who were injured.

Clashes erupted between Palestinian teenagers and Israeli forces at several gates leading into the Old City, most prominently at the Mughrabi Gate leading to the mosque, as well as the Huta Gate and the yard of the mosque compound itself.

The compound is the third holiest site in Islam, believed to be the location where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and returned. The site is the holiest for Jews, who believe it to be the site of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and is referred to by Jews and Israelis as the Temple Mount.

The compound is a frequent site of clashes, as tensions run high in the Old City over Israeli excavations and rumors of settlers amassing at the site. Seven Palestinians were detained as clashes erupted last Sunday, with Israeli forces storming the site with discord reported throughout the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said at the time that “tourists entered the Temple Mount and were attacked by 20 masked Palestinians, throwing stones. Police immediately responded to disperse them.”

Rosenfeld said police did not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but surrounded the compound. He added that “1,000 tourist visits continue” in the area.

Over 200 Israeli soldiers and police surrounded the mosque, using loudspeakers calling on worshipers to evacuate the site, Ma’an’s correspondent said. Palestinians responded by using the loudspeakers in the mosque, used to call Muslims to prayer, to urge Palestinians to head to the city.

At the beginning of the week, extremist groups called on sympathizers to gather at the Buraq square, known to Israelis as the Wailing Wall, and march on the Al-Aqsa compound. Palestinians spent the night in the mosque to prevent their entry, it was reported.

In response, national and religious leaders in Jerusalem and in Israel urged Palestinians to prevent the anticipated take-over by amassing at the mosque to prevent the entry of extremists.

Disturbances at the mosque are a central reason for the escalation of tensions between the two sides, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said Monday in a public condemnation of a prior breach of the holy compound.

While Israeli reports of the incident placed blame for Sunday’s clashes squarely on Palestinians, PCHR investigations affirmed eyewitness accounts and local news coverage contending that hundreds of Israeli settlers and their supporters, escorted by Israeli security forces, had entered the mosque compound, sparking clashes.

PCHR condmened the breach in the “strongest possible terms,” and further slammed the “use of excessive force” by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians who had gathered inside the mosque or attempted to prevent “the provocative entry of settlers into the mosque.”

In its condemnation, the organization noted heightened concerns over Israeli control of traditionally Palestinian holy sites, following the declaration by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the previous Sunday, of sites within the West Bank as “Israeli heritage” locations. The move sparked fears that Israeli forces would further limit Palestinian access to the landmarks.

“PCHR strongly condemns all disruptive measures taken by [Israeli forces] in East Jerusalem … [and] calls upon the international community to immediately intervene to force Israel, the occupying power, to stop such measures.”

March 5, 2010 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation