TruthNews

Palestinian Riots Spread To Temple Mount

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 1 Mar 2010

Despite heavy rains and Israeli assurances not to disturb the status quo at religious sites in the Holy Land, Palestinian protestors continued to stage violent demonstrations at various Muslim shrines over the weekend, including riots at the ultra-sensitive Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The angry Palestinians protests against Israel’s new list of "heritage" sites important to Jewish and Zionist history spread to the Old City of Jerusalem on Saturday evening when some 30 young Muslim men holed up inside the al-Aqsa Mosque and began throwing rocks at visitors to the Temple Mount on Sunday morning. Several people were hurt and seven protesters were arrested when police moved in to remove them from the Mount. The rioting then spread to the narrow alleyways of the Old City and other eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods.

Israeli officials charged that Palestinian Authority officials, specifically Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, were encouraging the riots. Fayyad prayed on Friday at the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is part of the Cave of the Patriarch’s complex in Hebron, a site recently included on Israel’s new Heritage List of places to be preserved and promoted. On Monday, Fayyad also held his weekly cabinet meeting in Hebron, instead of Ramallah.

"We need to remember that Fayyad’s ultimate plan is to unilaterally declare statehood within a year and a half if negotiations do not reach an agreement by then," one Israeli official said.

On Sunday evening, Jordan’s King Abdullah condemned Israel’s "provocative measures in Jerusalem" and called on the international community to take immediate steps to "protect Jerusalem’s holy sites." Abdullah made the remarks after hosting PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Amman.

Meantime, the Hamas minister of religious affairs, Taleb Abu Shaar, urged Palestinians yesterday to violently attack Israelis to "protect our Islamic holy places from the risk of Judaization." He also called on the UN to impose sanctions on Israel "because of its crimes."

In response to the rioting of the past week, the IDF shut down travel and imposed a curfew in the West Bank over the Purim weekend to prevent clashes between settlers and Palestinians, and deployed extra forces in "hot spots" where there is a high probability of tension.