Hundreds of Palestinians riot over Temple Mount
restrictions
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and
Itim
Hundreds of Palestinians rioted outside Jerusalem on Friday morning
to protest restrictions on Palestinian entry to the Temple Mount
for Friday prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Palestinians hurled rocks and bottles at Border Police officers
manning the Atarot and A-Ram checkpoints north of Jerusalem and two
checkpoints south of Jerusalem.
The Border Police dispersed the Palestinians with rubber bullets,
batons and stun grenades. There were no injuries reported.
Police also detained six Palestinians.
Meanwhile, some 160,000 Muslims gathered at the Temple Mount for
prayers around noon Friday.
MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) said the Israeli
restrictions on prayer services at the Temple Mount violated
freedom of religion and international law.
"Israel is impinging upon the freedom of worship and thereby
callously violating international law," Tibi said.
Security forces are not allowing Palestinian men younger than 40 to
participate in Friday prayers at the Temple Mount, fearing
disturbances. The restrictions have been in place since Ramadan
began three weeks ago, during which time police have also bolstered
their presence in the Old City of Jerusalem over the past three
weeks.
Jerusalem police commander Ilan Franco said Friday that the
restrictions on West Bank residents were put in place for "security
reasons" and added that no restrictions were placed on Israeli
Arabs or East Jerusalem residents.
Franco said there had been similar incidents at checkpoints the
last two Fridays, but that the protests this week were more
intense.