Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at the Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem on Friday. Credit … Mahmoud Ilin / Associated Press
Jerusalem – Muslim lunch prayers in one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites have passed without incident after earlier clashes between Israeli riot police and Palestinians erupted around dawn, leaving more than 100 injured on Friday, the first day of a rare convergence. Ramadan, Easter and Easter.
The violence limited weeks of escalating tensions in Israel and the occupied West Bank and led to fears of further fires in the coming days.
The morning clashes began at about 5:30 a.m. and lasted more than three hours at the site of the Aksa Mosque complex in the Old City, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, a complex that is sacred to both religions. Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers gathered there to pray at dawn on the second Friday of Ramadan, the holy month of Lent.
Palestinians threw stones at police, who responded with sonic grenades and rubber bullets. At least 117 Palestinians were injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, and Israeli police said several officers were injured.
The violence ended in a few hours, but many more people were expected to pour into the Old City during the day for Sunday’s Friday prayers and celebrate Good Friday and the first night of Easter, which begins at sunset.
The confrontation has increased the risk of further escalation following a recent wave of Palestinian attacks on Israelis and deadly Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank. Tensions and violence around the same place played a central role in the escalation of the 11-day war last May between Israel and Palestinian extremists in Gaza.
In the last month, violence has escalated in Israel and the occupied territories with five Palestinian attacks that killed 14 people in Israel in an unusually deadly wave. This prompted the Israeli army to step up attacks in the occupied West Bank, killing at least 15 Palestinians. Israel said the attacks were aimed at preventing and deterring further attacks, but the Palestinians condemned them as a collective punishment.
Israeli police and some Palestinian worshipers said the clashes were started by Palestinians, while other witnesses said police fired the first shot.
For weeks, tensions have been expected to rise around the rare convergence of Ramadan, Easter and Easter.
In recent days, staunch Jewish activists have said they plan to celebrate Easter by slaughtering a young goat on top of Temple Mount, sacred to Jews as the site of an ancient Jewish temple.
This would violate long-standing Israeli policies aimed at avoiding the provocation of Muslim sensibilities, which technically forbid Jews from practicing religious rites on the mountain.
As Israeli authorities become increasingly lenient with Jews quietly praying on the mountain during Sunday morning hours from Sunday to Thursday, police have arrested several Jewish activists in recent days on suspicion of planning to make it more visible. gesture of animal sacrifice.
A Jew was stopped by police on Friday morning while carrying a goat near the mosque. The goat was confiscated.
There have been rumors on Palestinian social media that Jewish hardliners will disrupt the Aqsa Mosque this weekend, prompting calls for Palestinians to defend the area.
In addition to tensions, Palestinian vandals damaged a Jewish shrine in the occupied West Bank twice in the past week.
Palestinian Authority has strongly condemned the Israeli police ‘raid on the Aqsa complex.
“The expulsion of pilgrims by force, repression and batons in preparation for the attacks of Jewish extremists will ignite a fire of religious war for which the Palestinians themselves will not pay the price,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Jair Lapid, the Israeli foreign minister, said his country is committed to religious freedom for people of all faiths in Jerusalem.
“Our goal is to provide peaceful prayer for believers during Ramadan,” he said in a statement. “This morning’s riots on the Temple Mount are unacceptable and contrary to the spirit of the religions we believe in.
– Patrick Kingsley and Raja Abdulrahim
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