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An elderly man is dragged away from the Western Wall area for shouting loudly to protest to prevention of Jews from going on the Temple Mount. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners April 10, 2005 |
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| Most Jews came to the Western Wall to pray and celebrate, not climb to the Temple Mount. (AP) |
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Thousands of Israeli police encircled Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday to keep Israeli religious nationalists off the Temple Mount and prevent protests by Muslim worshippers. Sixteen Israelis were arrested as their protest against a Gaza withdrawal quickly fizzled.
However, police acknowledged the pullout opponents achieved their main goal -- tying up the security forces. Organizers have said Sunday's event was a trial run for the summer's withdrawal when they want to divert as many troops as possible from dismantling Jewish settlements in Gaza by forcing them to secure other areas, including the Jerusalem shrine.
The tension in Jerusalem came a day after Israeli troops killed three Palestinian teens in Gaza in disputed circumstances and fueled fears that a shaky two-month-old truce will collapse. The IDF said they were invoved in weapons smuggling. The PA said that they were playing ball, but later arrested two of the youths, Israeli sources said.
The friction clouded Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to the United States, where he is to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday to win a strong public endorsement for the Gaza pullout.
Palestinian militants fired 70 mortar rounds in response to the killing of the teens, but stopped short of walking away from the informal cease-fire. Islamic militant groups have warned they would end the truce if Israeli hardliners are permitted into the Jerusalem shrine, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.
The far-right Revava group had said it would bring thousands to the Old City. However, only a few dozen showed up, and 16 were arrested. Four right-wing legislators were prevented by police from visiting the shrine, though members of parliament usually have freedom of movement. Arab MKs were allowed to ascend to the Mount.
In anticipation of the protest, hundreds of Palestinians spent the night in the mosque compound. Thousands of stones fell on police in the morning.
Hassan Yousef, a senior West Bank leader of the violent Islamic group Hamas, entered the mosque compound despite tough police restrictions, including a ban on male worshippers younger than 40 and those from the West Bank. "Al Aqsa is in danger," Yousef said. "The attempts to desecrate Al Aqsa have not ended."
Outside the Old City walls, hundreds of young Palestinians scuffled with baton-wielding police, some on horse-back of kept them away from the shrine. Two Palestinians were hurt, one suffering a head injury after being hit by a club. Eventually, the Palestinians knelt in orderly lines on the road ringing to Old City to perform Muslim prayers.
In the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets to protest against the right-wing plans to enter the mosque compound. In Nablus, some 3,000 Palestinians, including dozens of armed men who fired in the air, marched through the streets. In Hebron, about 1,000 Palestinians marched and chanted.
More than 3,000 police, many in riot gear, secured the Jerusalem shrine, which sits on the fault line of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has provided the spark for violence in the past.
Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi said he has to prevent disturbances at the shrine at all costs, even if it means deploying thousands of officers to keep out a few demonstrators. "Israel's police does not have the option of playing games," he said, adding that the Gaza withdrawal would go ahead as planned.
Thousands of police and soldiers will be mobilized for dismantling 21 settlements in gaza and four in the West Bank, starting in July.
Carmi Gilon, former head of the Shin Bet security service, said that in the event of such an attack, Israel would find itself at war with the entire Muslim world. "Of all the means ... of stopping disengagement, no doubt the Temple Mount is the doomsday weapon," he told Israel Radio.
A demonstrative visit to the site in September 2000 by then-opposition leader Sharon led to rioting that escalated into more than four years of violence. Jews revere the Temple Mount as the site of their biblical temples, while Muslims tradition says the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from the spot.
The AP contributed to this report.
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