Flash Point: Israeli Police, Muslim Rioters Clash
Pastor Dale Morgan
Feb 9, 9:56 PM EST
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Flash Point: Israeli Police, Muslim Rioters Clash*
By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Anger over Israeli construction near a disputed
Jerusalem holy site erupted into violence Friday as police used tear gas
and stun grenades to disperse thousands of rioting Muslims. Protests
spread in the Arab world, with demonstrators accusing Israel of plotting
to harm Islamic shrines.
The clashes began after Friday prayers, when Muslims at the site began
throwing rocks at police stationed outside, according to Jerusalem
police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby.
About 200 riot police streamed onto the compound, known to Muslims as
the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount. The officers
scuffled with some of the 3,000 Muslim worshippers. Clouds of tear gas
rose into the sky and sharp booms pierced the air.
Outside the compound near Lion's Gate, hundreds of teenagers who had
been barred from the Al Aqsa mosque hurled stones, iron bars, vegetables
and at least one firebomb at police, authorities said. Police responded
with stun grenades.
The melee slightly injured 17 protesters and 19 police officers, and 17
rioters were arrested, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Officers
shut all the gates leading to the complex, and disconnected loudspeakers
that they said were used to incite worshippers.
The compound is home to the golden-capped Dome of the Rock shrine and Al
Aqsa mosque and is believed to be the site where the Prophet Muhammad
ascended to heaven. Jews venerate the compound as the site of their
biblical temples, and one of its outer walls - known as the Western Wall
- is the holiest site in Judaism.
The Israelis say the purpose of the construction project is to build a
new walkway leading to the holy site. The walkway would replace a ramp
that was damaged in a snowstorm three years ago.
But the Palestinians have expressed fears that the excavations under way
are actually attempts to tunnel under the compound.
Israeli officials reject that accusation and say they are not digging
under the compound, or even close to it. They insist that the
replacement of a ramp would not harm the holy site about 200 feet away.
"We have nothing to hide and yet extremist elements with a hateful
agenda have cynically provoked violence by deliberately spreading
mistruths about what we're doing," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev
said.
Israeli officials accused Palestinians of distorting the construction
project as a way to rally their people against the Jewish state and
distract them from other problems. Fighting between rival Palestinian
factions has killed 130 people since May, and the rival Hamas and Fatah
groups announced an agreement Thursday to share power and end the violence.
Mohammed Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem, blamed Israel for the violence
Friday. "I don't know what impact this aggression will have on the
Palestinian territories, but past experience has shown that every time
there were clashes at the mosque, it engulfed the other parts of the
West Bank and Gaza," he said by telephone from inside the compound.
When Israel opened a tunnel alongside the compound in 1996, it touched
off clashes that killed 80 people. In 2000, when then-opposition leader
Ariel Sharon visited the site, the ensuing riots were followed by years
of violence.
"There is no justification for what they did today, and we think it was
pre-orchestrated to bring fears to the spirits of the worshippers angry
about the Israeli dig," said Adnan Husseini, chairman of the Waqf, the
Muslim trust that oversees the shrine.
Small protests began this week as soon as the Israelis began excavating.
On Friday, Jewish worshippers were evacuated from the Western Wall plaza
at the foot of the compound as a precaution.
The situation grew especially volatile when 150 protesters barricaded
themselves inside Al Aqsa. But police did not enter the mosque, and the
protesters began leaving 90 minutes later, following negotiations
between police and Muslim representatives.
Three hours after the initial clash, police and demonstrators still
played cat and mouse in the narrow alleyways and on the rooftops of the
nearby Old City.
But in other areas of the Old City, the scene was calm. Ten pilgrims
speaking Russian and carrying wooden crosses walked down the Via
Dolorosa, the path Christians believe Jesus took to his crucifixion.
In the West Bank, youths hurled stones at Israeli security forces at a
major checkpoint leading into Jerusalem and near the town of Qalqiliya.
South of the town of Bethlehem, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets at
Palestinians rioting over the work at the holy site, slightly wounding
three. No clashes erupted in a demonstration in the West Bank town of
Hebron.
And in the northern Israeli town of Nazareth, about 5,000 Israeli Arabs
marched to oppose the work at the mosque.
The Jerusalem compound has repeatedly been a flashpoint for violence
between Israel and the Palestinians, and there were fears the violence
could spread.
In Egypt, thousands of anti-riot police beat and chased dozens of
protesters into side alleys and streets to prevent them staging a mass
demonstration at Al-Azhar Mosque following Friday prayers. Witnesses
said dozens of protesters were detained.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit demanded that Israel stop
the construction and warned of escalation in tensions if it doesn't, the
MENA news agency reported. And Jordan's King Abdullah said he would try
to muster enough international support to pressure Israel to stop the
work, according to the Petra news service.
Hundreds of Palestinians staged a sit-in at the Ein el-Hilweh refugee
camp in southern Lebanon, carrying pictures of Al Aqsa and chanting
anti-Israeli slogans. Hundreds of Islamic fundamentalists also protested
in the Lebanese port city of Sidon, while 3,000 Palestinians chanted
anti-Israel slogans during a march in Syria's Yarmouk refugee camp.
In Jordan, about 2,000 worshippers marched in protest after Friday
prayers, calling for the government to close down the Israeli Embassy in
Amman and send its ambassador home.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, also called for
Israel to halt work on the ramp.
"It has potential to disturb the most respected mosque for Muslims all
over the world," said Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda. "We urge Israel
to stop its archaeological excavation works around the holy Al Aqsa mosque."
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AP reporters Dalia Nammari in Jerusalem, Ben Curtis in Cairo, Egypt,
Shafika Mattar in Amman, Jordan, and Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon,
contributed to this report.