Photo: The Canadian Press
Women waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem in Gaza City on Friday.
Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Doctors said more than 150 Palestinians had been injured in the worst violence at the site in nearly a year.
The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions have escalated amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year sparked an 11-day war with Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.
The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. This year’s Ramadan coincides with Easter, a major weekly Jewish holiday beginning on a Friday at sunset, and a Christian holy week culminating in Easter. The festivities are expected to bring tens of thousands of believers to the Old City of Jerusalem, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.
Hours after the clashes began, police said they had ended the violence and arrested “hundreds” of suspects. The mosque was reopened and about 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers at noon, according to Waqfa, the Islamic Foundation that administers the site.
After prayers, thousands of Palestinians marched around the esplanade, chanting “with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Al-Aqsa”, in addition to slogans in support of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.
Less than a mile away, thousands of Christians marched in procession, following Jesus’ traditional journey to the cross in honor of Good Friday. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was open to visitors returning to the Holy Land in large numbers for the first time since the pandemic. The violence is limited to the mosque complex.
Israeli authorities said they had been negotiating with Muslim leaders before the unrest erupted to try to reassure them. But police say Palestinians have stored rocks and other items in the complex and thrown stones at the Mugrabi Gate, which leads to the Western Wall – a major Jewish holy site – and has sparked violence.
Palestinian witnesses, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said a small group of Palestinians threw stones at police, who then entered the complex, causing a wider fire. The Palestinians see any major police deployment in Al-Aqsa as a provocation.
Palestinians threw stones and fireworks, and police fired tear gas and stunning grenades at the expanding eplanade around the mosque. Dozens of Palestinians barricaded themselves in the mosque as they fought Israeli security forces.
Israeli police later entered the mosque and arrested people inside. Police rarely enter the building, which is perceived by Palestinians as an escalation.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service said it was treating 152 people, many of whom were injured by rubber-coated bullets or stunning grenades.
Videos show police beating a photographer for the waqf with batons before knocking him to the ground and kicking him. The waqf said photographer Rami Hatib had a broken arm. There was no immediate comment from the police.
Israeli police said three police officers were injured in a “mass stone throwing” and two were evacuated from the scene of the incident for treatment.
Neighboring Jordan, which has custody of the holy site, and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement accusing Israel of “dangerous and reprehensible escalation that threatens to explode.” Egypt also condemned the “Israeli attack”.
Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, who heads the police force, said Israel was “not interested” in violence in the holy site, but that police had been forced to confront “violent elements” who attacked them with stones and metal. rods. He said Israel is committed to freedom of worship for both Jews and Muslims.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said authorities were working to calm things down on the Temple Mount and throughout Israel. At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario. “
The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It was built on top of a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is the holiest site for the Jews, who call it Temple Mount because it was the site of ancient Jewish temples. It has been a major hotbed of Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the Palestinian intifada or uprising of 2000-2005.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move that is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future state, including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also conquered during the war nearly 55 years ago.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks following a series of Palestinian attacks that killed 14 people in Israel. Israeli troops have carried out a wave of arrests and military operations in the occupied West Bank, sparking clashes with Palestinians.
At least 25 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Associated Press. Many attacked or clashed, but an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appeared to be a bystander were also killed.
Weeks of protests and clashes in and around Al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year helped fuel the fourth war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. This year, Israel has lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try to defuse tensions, but attacks and military attacks are fueling a new cycle of unrest.
Hamas has condemned what it said were “brutal attacks” on al-Aqsa worshipers, saying Israel would suffer “all the consequences”.
Earlier this week, Hamas and other fighting groups in Gaza called on Palestinians to camp at the Al-Aqsa Mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take the place or divide it.
Israeli authorities say they have pledged to maintain the status quo, but in recent years large groups of nationalists and religious Jews have visited the site regularly with police escorts.
A radical Jewish group recently called on people to bring animals to the site to sacrifice them for the Passover, offering cash prizes for those who have succeeded or even tried. Israeli police are working to prevent such activities, but the call was widely circulated by Palestinians on social media, along with calls for Muslims to prevent any casualties.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, issued a statement calling on Muslim leaders to take action to stop the violence. He also noted that “the sacrifice on the Temple Mount today is contrary to the decision of the Chief Rabbi of Israel.”
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