Clash at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque — Will The Next One Be Webcasted?

See if you can spot the subtle differences of viewpoints in this media roundup:

February 7th

Tim Butcher in the Telegraph:

The Arab world reacted with fury yesterday when Israeli archaeologists began exploratory work near one of the most important shrines in Islam, the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

The digging was ordered by Israel to improve access to the Mughrabi Gate, the only entrance into the al-Aqsa compound, used by non-Muslim visitors and tourists.

While the mosque compound is regarded as the third most important site in Islam, for Jews it is the most important shrine. This has made it a friction point between the two faiths for decades.

Palestinian political leaders and Muslim religious figures accused Israel of trying to damage the ancient mosque and called on Muslims to rise up in protest.

Mohammed Hussein, the senior Muslim cleric in Jerusalem, said. “We call on the Palestinian people to unite and unify the efforts to protect Jerusalem.” Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, called on all Muslims to march on Jerusalem. Israel deployed hundreds of security personnel to protect the archaeologists.

Tunnelling near the mosque compound in 1996 started riots that left 80 people dead.

Yaakov Lappin on Israel’s Ynetnews:

The lethal al-Aqsa plot hoax

A century-long campaign of unfounded claims of a Jewish ‘plot’ against the mosque continues unabated

As the Israel Antiquities Authority begins construction work at the Mugrabi Gate in Jerusalem in order to make the area structurally sound and safe for visitors, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has called on Muslims “to defend the al-Aqsa Mosque.” Hamas has also charged Israel with “demolishing parts of the Aqsa mosque” on its website.
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Although the works are not taking place on the Temple Mount , the Hamas website accused “the Israeli occupation government of conspiring to finally destroy the Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest Muslim shrine world-wide, and to install the alleged Third Temple on its ruins.”

“The Aqsa Mosque is in real danger and needs Muslim support to defend and spare it the rancorous Israeli conspiracies”, Palestinian Chief Justice Tayseer al-Tamimi declared, calling on Muslim masses to assemble to “protect” the site.

And the Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, claims to have “documents and photos” proving that “the demolition of the pathway and the two rooms under the Buraq Mosque will expose both the Aqsa Mosque and Buraq Mosque inside Al-Haram Al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) to extreme danger as Israeli settlers will easily access both of them,” the Hamas website added on Tuesday.

Calls have been issued for Palestinians to “unite their guns in defense of al-Aqsa,” while the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have threatened terrorist attacks if the work continue.

Certainly, small, far-Right fringe groups exist within Israel that have set their sights on the mosque, and on rebuilding the Temple using physical force - but the State of Israel has devoted considerable resources of its security arms to keeping such extreme elements in check.

Xinhua News:

The Arab League (AL) denounced on Tuesday the Israeli excavations near the Islamic holy shrine in Jerusalem, the official MENA news agency reported.

The denouncement, made by AL Assistant Secretary General for Palestinian and the occupied Arab Lands Affairs Mohammad Sobeih, came after Israel began its digging operations under al-Magharba Gate, which is considered part of the Western Wall of al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest Islamic mosque.

Sobeih said such act represented a violation of all international legitimacy resolutions and Israel’s agreements signed with the Palestinian side to preserve the heritage and religious sanctities whether Islamic or Christian.

Sobeih, who is currently in Qatar, asserted that the AL general secretariat has been following up with deep worry the Israeli acts and their recurrent aggression and damage to Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem.

He called on international organizations concerned, especially UNESCO, the UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council to immediately shoulder their responsibilities and halt the heinous Israeli aggression on one of the holiest Islamic sanctities.

Israeli excavation work started Tuesday near al-Magharba Gate, which is one of the relics of the Arab and Islamic history and its destruction would threaten the foundations of the holy mosque. The operation has stirred wide-spread anger from Arab world.

Atul Aneja in The Hindu:

DUBAI: Amid growing tensions, Israelis have begun repairing a walkway near Jerusalem’s holiest site. The walkway leads to the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Temple Mount compound in East Jerusalem.

For restoring the pathway, the Israelis plan to level a mound that Islamic scholars say is sacred. According to the Islamic authorities in charge of the compound, there are two underground rooms, which lie beneath the mound.

The controversy has raised tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians in the area. A senior cleric has called upon Palestinians to head for the compound and protest against the work.

On Sunday, Jordan’s King Abdullah issued a warning against “any attack on Islamic sites.” He condemned Israeli attempts “to change the nature of these sites and erase their Muslim character.”

February 8th

Middle East Online, a Muslim-oriented site based in London:

CAIRO - The Arab League is to convene an urgent meeting of permanent delegates on Saturday to discuss Israeli works near Islam’s third holiest site in Jerusalem, league sources said.

Delegates from the 22-member body are expected to meet at the league’s headquarters in Cairo to discuss “Israel’s continued violations against the holy Al-Aqsa mosque”, the source said on Thursday.

“This Israeli aggression is part of repeated Israeli attempts to impose a status quo in Jerusalem,” said the Palestinian Authority’s representative at the league, Hussein Abdel Khaleq.

The Palestinian Authority called for the meeting “to examine this critical situation which threatens the Al-Aqsa mosque and the possibility of a joint Arab position in the face of this danger,” he told reporters.

Riyadh denounces ‘hostile’ Israeli works

Saudi Arabia on Thursday denounced Israeli works near the third holiest site in Islam as a “hostile action,” adding its voice to a swell of Arab and Muslim fury over the construction and excavation work.

“Saudi Arabia is following with deep concern the work being carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities… and condemns hostile Israeli actions at the third holiest site in Islam,” said an official statement carried by the SPA news agency.

The oil-rich kingdom urged the international community to intervene in order to halt “this flagrant Israeli aggression… which is a provocation to the feelings of Muslims worldwide.”

Despite fury from Arab and Muslim leaders and Palestinian protests, Israel was continuing initial excavations for a third day on Thursday ahead of beginning new construction near the mosque compound.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said the work, expected to take months, is to strengthen an access ramp to Dung Gate for the “benefit and safety of visitors” after damage caused by an earthquake and snowstorms in February 2004.

But the Muslim trust that oversees the compound charges that the Israelis are levelling a mound which contains two underground rooms connected to the mosque complex, and whose destruction risks undermining its foundations.

The compound, which houses both the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is where the second Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 after a controversial visit by then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon.

It is revered by Jews as the site of their ancient temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Within the Israeli government, many lawmakers called for the project to be halted or abandoned.
India’s Zee News reported:

Jerusalem, Feb 09: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has spurned a call by his defense minister to consider halting excavations near Jerusalem’s most sacred Islamic shrine that have angered Muslims, an official said on Thursday.

The dig, outside a compound housing the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque, has exposed the depth of Arab suspicions over Israeli activities in Arab East Jerusalem and the simmering tensions between Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

Arab states have asked Israel to halt the work at Islam’s third holiest shrine, charging it could damage the mosque’s foundations. Palestinian militants have threatened to end a three-month old Gaza truce with Israel.

Israel said the holy places would not be harmed by what it called an attempt, mandated by law, to salvage artifacts before construction of a pedestrian bridge leading to the complex known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount.

An Israeli official, confirming a report in the Haaretz newspaper, said Peretz, leader of Olmert’s main coalition partner, the centre-left Labor Party, had sent a written appeal to the prime minister asking for the project to be reassessed.

“Our problem with the work at the Temple Mount … is its effect on our relations with important, moderate elements in the Arab world who are very angered by it,” Labor’s Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel Radio.

Others put forth a different solution: why not broadcast the excavation/construction live on the Internet? To my knowledge, this is the first time the Internet has been proposed as a tool for diplomacy in the Middle East. (Although there is a company who is webcasting prayers for Jews and Christians to be blared over a speaker at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.) The Associated Press reported:

JERUSALEM — The Israel Antiquities Authority is considering broadcasting a real-time, 24-hour Internet video from a Jerusalem holy site in a bid to allay Muslims’ fears the shrine will be harmed by recently launched repair work, an authority spokeswoman said yesterday.

Israel says it needs to replace a centuries-old earthen ramp leading to the hilltop compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, which was damaged heavily in a 2004 snowstorm. It has promised the work would cause no harm to Islamic shrines at the site, some 60 yards away, but those assurances have not calmed some Muslims’ outrage over the project.

Lawmaker Israel Hasson said he proposed installing cameras at the site so “all the Arab world would be able to see everything that goes on there.”

That wasn’t enough to keep violence from erupting today.

Dalia Nammari of the Associated Press:

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli police stormed the grounds of Islam’s third-holiest shrine Friday, firing stun grenades and tear gas to disperse thousands of Muslim worshippers who hurled stones, bottles and trash in an eruption of outrage over Israeli renovation nearby.

The clash at the end of noon prayers came after days of mounting tensions over the work and raised concern that protests at the site could spread to the West Bank and Gaza, as they did at the start of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000. No serious injuries were reported.

About 200 police streamed on to the hilltop compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, to try to quell Muslims rioting over the repair work on a centuries-old ramp, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Clouds of tear gas rose up at the holy site and stun grenades set off sharp booms. A doctor treating some of the injured, Dr. Khalil el-Baba, said officers fired rubber bullets at protesters, but police denied that.

Riot police with their helmet visors pulled down scuffled with worshippers, some of them middle-aged or elderly. Medics tended several injured people lying on the stone pavement. Jewish worshippers were evacuated from the Western Wall plaza at the foot of the compound.

The situation grew especially volatile after some 150 protesters barricaded themselves inside the Al Aqsa mosque at the complex.

But police did not enter the mosque. The protesters began to leave about 90 minutes after they holed up inside the building, following negotiations between officers and Muslim representatives, negotiators said.

But three hours after the initial clash, police were still chasing demonstrators in the narrow alleyways and on the rooftops of the Old City. Near Lion’s Gate, police fired stun grenades after teenagers threw stones, iron bars and at least one firebomb at them, police said. The cobblestone walkways in the area were littered with rubble and vegetables thrown by protesters.

Even as the violence subsided, passions remained inflamed.

“There is no justification for what they did today, and we think it was pre-orchestrated to bring fears to the spirits of the worshippers angry about the Israeli dig,'’ said Adnan Husseini, chairman of the Waqf, the Muslim trust that oversees the shrine.

CNN reported that the confrontation ended quickly:

JERUSALEM (CNN) — An Israeli-Arab legislator Friday helped negotiate an end to a standoff between Palestinians and police at a disputed Jerusalem holy site.

The Palestinian protesters were upset with an Israeli construction project near Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The area known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary or Haram Al-Sharif to Muslims is sacred to both groups.

The Palestinians were protesting Israel’s attempt to renovate a ramp that will lead to the Mugrabi Gate. (Watch as rocks fly during clashes)

That gate, to which Israel holds the key, leads into the compound of Al Aqsa Mosque. Construction began Tuesday to replace a wooden ramp built after an earthquake and heavy snow damaged the original one in 2004.

The clashes began around midday following Friday prayers.

Blasts and shouting could be heard — along with thud of stun grenades fired by Israeli forces — as a throng of people gathered to protest the repair work.

According to Israeli police, 15 Israeli police officers were wounded and 17 Palestinians were arrested.

The grand mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Mohammed Hussein said 15 Palestinians were injured.

Clashes began after Palestinian youths somehow managed to enter the secured compound, restricted Friday by Israeli security forces to men older than 45.

They began throwing rocks at police in protest, said Mostafa Abu-Sway, a professor at Al-Quds University.

The age restrictions were enforced as part of an Israeli security precaution. The youths are believed to have entered Al Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday after Israel began the construction work.

Abu-Sway said he and thousands of other worshippers were locked in the mosque by Israeli troops as a security precaution.

Israeli officials put the number of worshippers visiting the mosque at around 4,000, much fewer than the tens of thousands who usually attend Friday prayers.

“Basically we are hostages because we are held against our will inside the mosque,” Abu-Sway said at the time. “I don’t think people are frightened but they are concerned.”

Talab El Sana — an Israeli-Arab member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset — was inside the compound at the time and helped strike an agreement with police to end the violence.

El Sana asked police to allow the young Palestinians locked inside the mosque to be allowed to leave if they left quietly.

Police agreed and Israeli National Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the youths were leaving quietly.

Earlier during the incident, up to 3,000 police officers flooded the area around the Old City and the compound.

They were attempting to halt Muslim protesters from throwing stones at Israeli security forces, and Israeli officials evacuated the Western Wall plaza below the Temple Mount.

Popularity: 1% [?]

this will be the story of Al-Aqsa crash:
Israel will go on digging under the Al-Aqsa untell they make a large spase under its all pasements, next the miracle that they want will happens; earthquake every body know that Palestine is in active earthquakes area, Al-Aqsa will fall down.
but every body have to know from now that israel is the one who is responsible of Al-Aqsa crash.
dont forget to till everyone you know about this.

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