Police repel Dome of the Rock ‘rioters’
Jerusalem – Clashes erupted between Israelis and Palestinians at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound yesterday, after a 10day cooling of tensions at the holy site, Israeli police said.
Police said they had repelled “dozens of rioters” who had been “throwing stones and other objects” at the security forces.
An AFP correspondent said there was a large police presence in front of the mosque. The Palestinian Red Crescent had not reported any casualties.
The clashes came on the anniversary of Israel’s 1948 independence and followed a tense period in which the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the Jewish festival of Passover and the Christian holiday of Easter overlapped.
Since mid-April, clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians have wounded nearly 300 at the flashpoint compound.
The site is Islam’s third-holiest. It is also Judaism’s holiest place, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Palestinians have been angered by an uptick in Jewish visitors to the compound, which Jews may visit but they may not pray. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has said the Jewish state “will not change” this status quo.
Last week, the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas threatened Israel with rockets and synagogue attacks if Israeli forces carried out further raids on the site.
“You should be ready for a great battle if the [Israeli] occupation does not stop attacking Al-Aqsa mosque,” said Yahya Sinwar, Hamas chief in the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave.
The mounting violence since 22 March has killed 12 Israelis in four separate attacks.
National Geographic’s original edge-of-your-seat adventure series, Primal Survivor, fronted by wilderness explorer Hazen Audel, returns to the channel (DStv 181, Starsat 220) with an exhilarating new five-part series, Primal Survivor: Escape the Amazon, premiering this week.
In the new series, explorer Hazen Audel takes on his toughest challenge yet, fighting his way through tropical Amazon jungle using only traditional survival methods at the most perilous time of year, the rainy season.
Hazen’s journey is continually hampered by rain, flooding areas and blocking his paths. However rainy season has its rewards. Wildlife is on the move so Audel gets to witness some astonishing sights, from dense primeval forest and savannahs filled with snakes, to tall granite mountains and swamps filled with caiman. Will he complete his long journey and escape the Amazon before the rains make it impossible?
Each episode sees Audel tackle a different challenge in his perilous journey as he bravely takes on the mission to escape to the edge of the forest before being trapped by the floods of the rainy season.
With the help of the forest’s Wai Wai people, he makes poisoned darts and traps monster fish in the dead of night. He uses all his jungle know-how when he comes face-to-face with a variety of threatening animals and insects from a goliath bird-eating tarantula to a giant anaconda.
Continuing to battle against the elements, Audel tackles the soaring Kanuku Mountain forests. He hunts for electric eels, climbs a sheer mountain peak, and hacks through a forest of bamboo to reach the far side of the mountains before floods and landslides block his path.
The intrepid adventurer then faces one last ordeal, crossing miles of snake-filled mangrove swamp to reach the Atlantic Ocean. With the help of the local Warau people, he learns how to live on water and braves killer bees in a daring night raid. – Citizen reporter