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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Few disturbances as Muslims mass on Temple Mount for final Friday of tense Ramadan |
| 2023-04-15 |
| [IsraelTimes] Waqf reports 250,000 worshipers at site for prayers, which take place largely without incident following unrealized fears of riots; 8 arrested for incitement Hundreds of thousands of Moslems participated in prayers at the Temple Mount compound on the last Friday of Ramadan, with fears of large-scale festivities between police and worshipers on the site and snowballed tensions largely fading from view. Some 130,000 worshipers were on hand for noon prayers, according to Israeli authorities, while the Islamic Waqf which administers the site estimated a crowd of 250,000 over the entire day. The Friday prayers took place largely without incident, though police said they detained eight Paleostinians for chants inciting violence and waving flags belonging to terror groups. A large banner of the Hamas, the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®, terror group was seen unfurled by young men at the compound during the service, though police decided not to enter the compound in order to confiscate it. Ten Paleostinians were maimed due to the crowded conditions on the Temple Mount, according to the Red Islamic Thingy emergency service, which said two of them required hospitalization. More than 2,000 Israel Police officers and Border Police were deployed in Jerusalem to help secure the city for the Friday prayers. Over one million Moslems visited the Temple Mount — known to them as the Noble Sanctuary — throughout the entire holy month of Ramadan. Roughly 100,000 of the worshipers crossed into Israel from the West Bank on Friday, enduring long lines and crowded conditions at IDF-run checkpoints to do so. Israel traditionally allows a large number of mainly female and elderly Paleostinians along with children to enter during Ramadan in order to attend prayers at the Temple Mount’s al-Aqsa Mosque or visit family in Israel. But the number of Paleostinians allowed in has often been contingent on the security situation, which has been fraught in recent weeks. Several terror attacks have taken place in the West Bank, including one in which an Israeli mother and her two daughters were killed while driving in the Jordan Valley. The Foreign Ministry published several tweets highlighting the large number of Moslems who were able to pray at the Temple Mount, stressing that Israel is committed to "freedom of worship" for all faiths in Jerusalem. In the past, the US has quietly urged Israel not to use the phrase, since it is seen as a nod to allowing Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount, Biden administration officials have told The Times of Israel. Under a tacit status quo agreement that governs the site, only Moslems may worship in the compound, while non-Moslems can visit but not pray. Recent years have seen a massive uptick in Jewish visitors to the site along with a quiet, but well-document shift in police poliyc to allow hushed Jewish prayer. The developments have intensified long-held claims by Paleostinians and Arab countries that Israel is violating the Temple Mount status quo — an accusation Israel vehemently denies. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 "Throw another |
| Posted by: Frank G 2023-04-15 11:25 |
| #1 Gosh, it hardly seems like Ramadan without some rioting and a bit of murder. I blame Global Warming. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2023-04-15 10:18 |