A Palestinian woman confronts Israeli police guarding Jewish visitors at the Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem on Thursday. Credit … Ahmad Garabli / Agence France-Presse – Getty Images
The attack in Greece, Israel, came Thursday after weeks of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and days after a Palestinian militant leader called on Arabs to “prepare your choppers, axes or knives” in response to police intervention. the place.
The Aqsa Mosque is one of the holiest sites in Islam and a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. The area is known as the Temple Mount of the Jews, the site of two ancient temples and the holiest site in Judaism.
Clashes erupted there during the recent holy month of Ramadan as Palestinians tried to block what they feared was an attempt to undermine Muslim access to and surveillance of the site, and Israeli police are working to combat terrorism. to keep the place safe and accessible to both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Israeli authorities say there has been no change in the site’s long-standing arrangements, nor are there any plans to change them. However, in recent months, Israeli police have regularly allowed silent Jewish prayer on the spot, amending decades-old conventions banning it and angering Palestinians.
During the recent violence, Palestinians usually threw stones and fired at fireworks at police, while police used sponge-covered bullets and tear gas.
On Saturday, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar warned that any further police attacks on the complex would provoke a reaction from the group, and called on Israeli Arabs to “prepare your choppers, axes or knives.”
Tensions were expected at the site on Thursday, Israel’s Independence Day, as some ultranationalist groups called on Israelis to enter the complex, carrying Israeli flags in defense of Israeli sovereignty over the site. The Aqsa Mosque is located in East Jerusalem, which Israel considers part of its capital and considers most of the world occupied.
Yahya Sinuar, head of Hamas in Gaza, spoke in Gaza last week. Credit … Adele Khan / Associated Press
But tensions on Thursday were actually lower than in recent weeks, except for a brief series of clashes lasting less than five minutes.
Police instructed Israeli visitors not to display Israeli flags and confiscated at least one flag after an Israeli woman tried to unfurl it on the mosque.
Violence erupted briefly around 7:50 a.m. when a Palestinian obstructed a group of Israeli visitors, a video shows. The man was quickly arrested during a brief skirmish, and police formed a loose cordon between Israeli and Palestinian civilians.
Two minutes later, another fight broke out between police and Palestinians, during which Palestinians threw four plastic chairs and a group of Palestinians rushed to the site’s main mosque and barricaded themselves inside. Several explosions were heard over the next three minutes, but it was unclear whether they were police-fired shots or fireworks fired by Palestinians.
Police later said Palestinians threw stones and fireworks, although no one was seen in the video at the time.
Police briefly opened one of the mosque’s doors and remained on the doorstep for less than a minute. But the mood calmed down after five minutes, and dozens of Muslims prayed all morning on the terrace in front of the main mosque.
Despite the relative calm, the reaction of Palestinian leaders was sharp.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry called the police action “an official Israeli declaration of religious war that will set the region on fire.”
Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, later issued a statement calling it a “serious escalation and outright provocation and heralding a total explosion.”
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