Amid clashes, Palestinians declare victory over Israel
JERUSALEM » Palestinians declared a hard-won victory Thursday against what they saw as an attempt by Israel to limit access at their holiest site, the alAqsa Mosque compound.
Nearly two weeks after Israel installed metal detectors at the gates to the sensitive shrine — a response to the killing of two Israeli police offices there by three Israeli Arab gunmen — Israel dismantled all of the new metal detectors, cameras, scaffolding and infrastructure erected after the deadly July 14 attack.
Jerusalem’s grand mufti, Mohammed Hussein, a spiritual leader and custodian of the mosque in Jerusalem, urged Muslims on Thursday to return to their shrine for worship, declaring the crisis over.
Worshippers had refrained from entering the compound for past 12 days, praying on the streets outside instead.
With news of the victory, hundreds of thousands of Muslim flooded the 37acre holy complex singing victory songs and chanting “God is great.” A group of youths scaled the mosque’s stone wall and planted a Palestinian flag on the top.
Within minutes, Israeli police officers followed in their path and tore the flag down. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that worshippers started to pelt rocks at security forces, as well as at Jewish worshippers praying at the adjacent Western Wall.
The cheers of joy were quickly replaced with the crack of stun grenades and the air filled with smoke as Israeli police shot tear gas canisters inside the mosque compound. At least 40 worshippers and 10 Israeli po- lice officers were reported injured.
Clashes continued at the site throughout the evening.
Israeli security officials said they are bracing for huge crowds today at week’s end prayers at alAqsa, the scene for frequent clashes, not only today, but over the decades.
Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevi warned Palestinian protesters that his officers will respond to provocations with force.
“No one should try to test us tomorrow,” Halevi said, urging calm but adding, “if there are people who try to disturb the peace, to harm police or citizens, they should not be surprised. There will be casualties and people injured.”
“This was a big miscalculation by the Israelis, who underestimated the power of the Jerusalem street, which has surprised everybody, even the Palestinian leadership,” said Abu Abad al Qaq, 49, a building contractor from Silwan in East Jerusalem, who attended the protests at the Lion’s Gate.
Ibrahim Awad Allah, a top official in the Islamic Waqf, which serves as custodian of the holy site, un- der the control and patronage of the king of Jordan, said the victory at the site was a “message to the Israeli occupation that their arrogance failed them.”
Beginning with the Palestinian attack that left the Israeli police officers dead on July 14, the turmoil over access to the mosque has left 15 people dead, including three Israelis fatally stabbed in their home in a West Bank settlement and two Jordanians, one an alleged assailant and the other a bystander, shot by a security guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan.