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| Israel-Palestine |
| Israeli police block Jewish extremist rally |
| 2005-04-11 |
| Israeli police prevented right-wing Jewish extremists from staging a rally at Jerusalem's disputed mosque compound on Sunday after thousands of Muslims massed to defend the flashpoint site. Some 3,000 officers threw a ring of steel around the Al-Aqsa compound, a site sacred to Jews and Muslims, after the ultra-nationalist Revava group called for mass prayers to denounce the planned evacuation this summer of the 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday warned that any attack by Jewish extremists on the mosque compound would undermine regional stability. "Any attack or attempt to harm this site which is sacred for Arabs and Muslims will undermine security and stability in the region," the king said in a statement to state-run Petra news agency. Twenty-two Jewish Israelis, including Revava leader Israel Cohen, were briefly detained as they tried to hold their protest which soon fizzled out amid the overwhelming police presence. However while the prospect of clashes between Jews and Muslims was averted, minor scuffles did break out between Palestinians and the Israeli security forces that left three policemen and nine Palestinians slightly or moderately injured. |
| Posted by:Fred |