Israeli and Palestinian police kept a tight watch over the al-Aqsa mosque compound yesterday amid high tension between Muslims and Jewish visitors to the holy site and calls from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to defend it by “all means.”
Clashes have flared repeatedly in the past few weeks as increasing numbers of Jews have visited the sacred area during the Jewish holidays, angering Palestinians who see this as part of an Israeli agenda to alter a long-preserved status quo.
The ornate marble and stone compound, known as Noble Sanctuary to Muslims and Temple Mount to Jews, is the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism. It contains the 8th century al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock, where the Prophet Mohammad is said to have ascended to heaven.
While the site is ultimately administered by Jordanian religious authorities, Israeli and Palestinian police secure it. Non-Muslims are allowed to visit under close monitoring but are not allowed to pray, a prohibition at the heart of the tensions.
Shortly after dawn on Sunday, a group of 10 Orthodox Jews gathered among dozens of foreign tourists to visit the site situated on a plateau above the Western Wall, where the second Jewish temple stood before it was destroyed in 70 AD.
Under the wary gaze of police, the group was escorted around the compound, sometimes appearing to mumble prayers under their breath as they walked. Any overt praying or efforts to lower themselves to the ground were quickly stopped by police.
As they passed in front of al-Aqsa mosque, where clashes erupted between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters last week, a crowd of Muslim women, their heads and faces covered, chanted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greater”) and the Palestinian police urged the Orthodox Jews to keep moving along.
“This is a provocation,” said Samy Hashlamon, a Palestinian man sitting nearby under the shade of some cypress trees.
“They are trying to confuse us and make us nervous, but this whole area belongs to Muslims.”
On a flight of steps leading up to the octagonal Dome of the Rock, which sits in the middle of the 37-acre (15-hectare) tree-lined compound, someone had spray-painted an equals sign between the Jewish Star of David and a Nazi swastika.
It was removed by police within minutes, but not before the Jewish visitors had seen and photographed it.
