3,000 Policemen Guarding Temple Mount
Pastor Dale Morgan
3,000 Policemen Guarding Temple Mount*
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Police Chief Moshe Karadi has raised the alert level
around the country to Level III, the second-highest. Jerusalem is of
special concern, because of the Moslem rioting violence and threats
regarding the construction of a ramp to the Temple Mount from the
Western Wall plaza.
As a security precaution, entry to the Friday prayers at the Al-Aksa
mosque are restricted more tightly than they have ever been, and only
those aged 50 and older will be allowed in.
Three Arabs were arrested shortly before the noon-time prayers began
when they tried to evade policemen and ascend to the Mount.
The walkway in question is the only passage by which Jews can enter the
Temple Mount - the holiest site in Judaism, the location of the First
and Second Holy Temples, and the place where the Binding of Isaac took
place. The ramp was heavily damaged during a snowstorm three years ago,
and is being replaced. Before the construction can take place, however,
Israeli law requires that preparatory archaeological excavations take
place to determine if important findings lie below.
Arab leaders have raised an uproar over the works, and have called for
another intifada to "save the Al-Aqsa Mosque [on the Temple Mount]."
This, despite the fact that the works are underway well outside the
Temple Mount. Israeli-Arab Sheikh Raad Salah, who heads the northern
branch of the radical Islamic Movement in Israel, was arrested and has
been distanced from the Old City for the next two months. He is also
charged with attacking policemen.
Other Arab leaders, including Arab MKs, have also stoked the fires of
conflict, with Hamas Authority leader Ismail Haniyeh calling on Moslems
all over Israel to "prevent" the continuation of the works.
Though the government voted not to give in to the Arab demands to stop
the works, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky this week announced that
construction on the new bridge - which is set to start several months
from now - would be postponed. The archaeological work continues, however.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, visiting in Turkey yesterday, has invited a
Turkish contingent to supervise the works. The delegation is scheduled
to arrive in the coming days.
In addition, the Antiquities Authority, which is conducting the
excavations, has installed three cameras that broadcast the goings-on at
the site 24 hours a day. The work will resume early Sunday morning.
Last Friday saw what some termed the worst rioting in Jerusalem in many
years. Police were forced to use tear gas and stun grenades to disperse
thousands of rioting Muslims, while outside the compound, near Lion's
Gate, hundreds of Arab teenagers hurled stones, iron bars, vegetables,
and at least one firebomb at police. In addition, though Israel Police
allowed entry to the Mount only to Moslems aged 45 and older, hoping to
thus prevent violence, some 150 youths apparently entered the mosque
earlier in the week - and became a focal point of violence.
Police did not enter the mosque, but only after 90 minutes of
negotiations between police and Muslim representatives did the youths leave.
"The Arabs actually want the Mughrabi Gate passway to collapse," Knesset
Member Aryeh Eldad said this week, "so that they will be able to close
the only gate that is under Jewish control. That will end the era of
Jewish visitation rights to the Temple Mount. They have been waiting for
this for a long time, and that's why they don't want us to refurbish it."