Renewed Clashes at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount
Palestinians walk at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City May 21, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
i24 News – Clashes renewed Friday morning between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli security forces at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
According to Ynetnews, dozens of Palestinian worshipers gathered in the early hours of the morning at al-Aqsa Mosque and began throwing stones and shooting off fireworks at Israeli authorities deployed near the compound’s gates.
The Israeli forces responded by using stun grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd of about 200 Palestinian demonstrators.
Some of the masked worshippers chanted slogans like, “We will not be silent, we will sacrifice our lives for the sake of al-Aqsa Mosque,” Ynetnews reported.
Thirty-one Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, two of them in serious condition, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Israel’s police said that “while many officers are working to allow freedom of worship, and to maintain the peace in holy places all over Jerusalem, there are those who choose to disrupt public order,” Haaretz reported.
Frictions remain heightened at the Temple Mount compound between Israeli authorities and Palestinian demonstrators, with the overlap of the Jewish holiday Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan stoking tensions.
The violence is also threatening a wider regional conflict with rockets recently launched from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel earlier this week.
On Thursday, the Arab League urged Israel to uphold the status quo and end Jewish prayers inside the al-Aqsa compound, warning it was a flagrant insult to Muslim feelings that could trigger more violence.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s governing militant group Hamas called on Palestinians to “mobilize” at al-Aqsa on Friday to defend the site and Jerusalem.