Two weeks into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at least 152 Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, according to the Palestine Red Crescent.
Following a spate of deadly Arab street attacks across the country over the past two weeks, Israeli security forces have been on high alert, and clashes near the holy Jerusalem site risk resuming a larger conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Hundreds of Palestinians hurled firecrackers and stones at Israeli police and toward the nearby Jewish prayer area of the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City after Ramadan morning prayers, according to an Israeli police statement.
Three officers were hurt in the skirmishes as police entered the Al-Aqsa compound to ‘disperse and drive back (the crowd) and enable the rest of the worshippers to leave the location safely,’ according to the statement.
According to Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, around 80 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli police.
“Israel is totally and directly liable for this crime and its consequences,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry stated.
In Jerusalem’s Old City, Palestinian protestors scuffle with Israeli security forces near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount.
‘The international world must intervene immediately to stop Israeli aggression on the Al-Aqsa mosque and prevent things from spiralling out of control,’ said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who governs the self-ruled West Bank.
Israel ‘bears responsibility for the consequences,’ according to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that administers Gaza.
The Al-Aqsa compound, which is known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as Temple Mount, rises atop the Old City plateau and is the most sensitive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The fact that Ramadan falls on the same day as the Jewish holiday of Passover has added to the tensions this year.
During the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan last year, there were regular skirmishes between Palestinians and Israeli police. Threats of Palestinian displacement in East Jerusalem and police raids at Al-Aqsa contributed to the start of an 11-day Israel-Gaza war that killed over 250 Palestinians in Gaza and 13 Israelis.
After Palestinian assailants killed 14 Israelis in a succession of strikes in Israeli cities, Israeli soldiers have killed 29 Palestinians in operations in the West Bank since March.
Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third holiest site, and Jews regard it as the site of two ancient temples.
In the 1967 Middle East conflict, Israel took the Old City and other areas of East Jerusalem, claiming the entire city as its everlasting, indivisible capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state, with its Muslim, Christian, and Jewish sacred sites.
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