PALESTINE HOLY LANDS ERUPT INTO VIOLENCE AT EASTERTIME

A sacred place for three religions - for Muslims Ramadan this year coincides with the Jewish Passover holiday and Christian holy week, bringing thousands of pilgrims and other visitors to Jerusalem.

Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa Mosque, over 150 Palestinians injured

Hundreds of Palestinians detained after Israeli police entered the mosque compound before dawn.

aljazeera.com |

Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem with medics reporting at least 158 Palestinians injured in the ensuing violence as hundreds were detained.

The Islamic endowment that runs the site said Israeli police entered in force before dawn on Friday, as thousands of worshippers were gathered at the mosque for early morning prayers.

Videos circulating online showed Palestinians throwing rocks and police firing tear gas and stun grenades. Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas.

It was the most serious violence at the holy site in nearly a year. Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a provocation. . .

Israeli police said they arrested at least 300 Palestinians during the latest escalation. However, Palestinian sources put the number at 400. Three officers were wounded from “massive stone-throwing”, it said.

Israeli police said they entered the compound, the third holiest site in Islam and revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, to break up a “violent” crowd that remained at the end of the morning prayers.

They went in “to disperse and push back” the crowd after a group of Palestinians began throwing rocks towards the nearby Jewish prayer space of the Western Wall. . .

‘Deeply outraged’

Neighbouring Jordan, which has custodianship over the holy site, and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement accusing Israel of “a dangerous and condemnable escalation that threatens to explode the situation”. Egypt also condemned the “Israeli raid”.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Al-Kalouti mosque, near the Israeli embassy in Jordan, to show their solidarity with Palestinians and in support of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The demonstrators chanted pro-Palestine and Hamas slogans.

Israel’s public security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had “no interest” in violence at the holy site, but that police were forced to confront “violent elements” who attacked them with stones and metal bars. He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike.  . .

Reporting from Damascus Gate, Al Jazeera’s Najwan al-Samri said Israeli police stormed the mosque compound without pretext and assaulted worshippers near the Qibly prayer hall following the morning prayer.

She added the escalation came as far-right Jewish groups called for raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Jewish Passover holiday, and the offering of animal sacrifices in its courtyards, which has not occurred since ancient times. . .

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara blamed the Israeli occupation, the “international community’s indifference to Palestinian suffering” amid the Ukraine crisis, and the “paralysis of the Palestinian leadership” as reasons behind the latest developments in Jerusalem.

Far-right Jewish groups have called for raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]

Angry responses

Responding to the developments, the Palestinian presidency said in a statement the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli police was “a dangerous development” and “a declaration of war”.

It added the Palestinian people would not allow Israeli occupation forces and Jewish settlers to take over the holy site, and called on the international community to “end Israeli aggression”.

Al-Aqsa has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally. 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 captured during the war.