New days of rage
JERUSALEM After a long, hot day of violent protests that saw three Arab Muslims fatally shot during clashes, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced yesterday that his government would ‘‘freeze contact on all levels’’ with Israel until newly installed metal detectors are removed from the entrances to alAqsa Mosque.
As news of Abbas’s ultimatum broke, the Israeli military spokesman’s office reported that three Israelis were fatally stabbed yesterday by an assailant who entered their home in Halamish, a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank. The attacker was shot. Israel’s Channel 2 news station said the assailant was Palestinian.
Earlier in the day, the Palestinian Health Ministry, a hospital and the Red Crescent ambulance service reported that three Palestinians were killed in the clashes and dozens more wounded. Many more suffered from inhaling tear gas, the medics said.
Abbas did not say whether his ultimatum would mean a halt to the security coordination between Palestinian police and intelligence units and their Israeli counterparts – an uneven but working relationship that senior Israeli military commanders have long credited with tamping down potentially explosive violence in the West Bank.
Israel and the Palestinians are locked in a dangerous showdown over Israel’s decision to install the metal detectors at the entrances to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound after a shooting rampage at the site last week.
Thousands of Muslim worshippers knelt in prayer on hot pavement and cobbled alleys around the Old City yesterday in an escalating protest. After peaceful midday prayers ended, a wave of tyre burning and stone throwing by Palestinians began in Arab communities around East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The protests were met by harsh Israeli countermeasures, including the use of water cannon, rubber bullets, stun grenades and live ammunition.
Israeli police units in riot gear shut down entrances to the Old City with barricades, conducted searches and checked identification cards, and refused entry to Arab men under age 50.
The day’s protests were sparked by a decision by Israel to erect metal detectors at the entrance to the mosque compound in the Old City.
Israeli authorities said the detectors were necessary to protect Muslim worshippers and Israeli forces after three young Arab Israelis smuggled a pistol and two homemade machine guns into the compound and emerged to shoot and kill two Israeli Border Police officers a week ago. The gunmen were killed in a shootout with police.
Many Palestinians, who say it is their sacred duty to defend the mosque, see the introduction of metal detectors as an additional instrument of control by Israel and refuse to believe its claims that the added security is for their own protection.
Jamal Hassan, 58, a religious leader from Qalqilyah in the West Bank, said the worshippers would not back down. ‘‘We will not pass through their metal detectors,’’ he said. ‘‘Al-Aqsa is our place of worship, not theirs.’’
Jowad Dibis, 50, from the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp in East Jerusalem, voiced sus- picion of Israel’s motives. ‘‘This is all part of the Israeli plan,’’ he said. ‘‘Little by little, they want to take al-Aqsa away from us and put up their own temple.’’
Israeli leaders said metal detectors were used at Muslim holy sites around the world, including the holy cities of Medina and Mecca.
‘‘Mecca is completely different,’’ said Dibis when asked why he opposed the new security measure in Jerusalem. ‘‘That is Saudis for Saudis – Saudi Arabia protecting Muslims. This is an occupation. You think they want to protect us? Everything is about controlling us.’’ PHOTOS: REUTERS
The raised esplanade in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City is revered by both Muslims and Jews. Muslims call it Haram alSharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and it is the spot where the faithful believe the prophet Mohammed went on his night journey to heaven. Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina.
Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount. It is Judaism’s holiest site, believed to mark the foundation stone of the world’s creation and the place where Abraham was instructed by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. It was also once the site of two Jewish temples.
Israel and Jordan share responsibility for running the site under a complicated ‘‘status quo’’ agreement that has been in place for decades. Any change to that agreement – by either side – is seen as a provocation. Under the arrangement, Muslims are allowed to enter and pray freely, while Jews and other visitors can go inside but are forbidden to pray there. Jordan and other Sunni Muslim states pressured Israel this week to remove the metal detectors. Washington Post