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By MATTI FRIEDMAN
The Associated Press
Monday, October 5, 2009; 5:26 AM JERUSALEM -- Israel deployed thousands of policemen in and around
Jerusalem's Old City on Monday to prevent a new round of disturbances
around a tense site holy to Jews and Muslims.
Police have been clashing sporadically for several days with Muslim
protesters in and around the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount
and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. No one has been seriously
injured, but in the past deadly violence has erupted at the site. Thousands of Jewish worshippers gathered at the foot of the compound to
pray at the supporting wall known as the Western Wall, the holiest site
where Jews can pray. Monday's prayers marked the weeklong Jewish holiday
of Sukkot. Tourists and men in white prayer shawls packed the plaza
opposite the wall, as police officers patrolled and kept watch nearby. Police restricted the entrance of Muslim worshippers to the compound,
saying calls by Israeli Arab leaders for protests could spark violence.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that only men over the age of 50
were being allowed to pray at the compound. There were no restrictions
on women. In the only incident of the day, a small group of Palestinians threw
stones at a group of Jewish worshippers outside the Old City, but no one
was hurt, Rosenfeld said. The recent clashes appear linked to rumors among Palestinians that
Jewish extremists plan to enter or damage the compound, home to the
Al-Aqsa mosque and the gold-capped Dome of the Rock and sanctified by
Muslims as their third-holiest site. Similar rumors in the past have led
to riots. Light disturbances broke out a week ago when a group of Muslim
worshippers, drawn to the site by a cleric's warning that Jewish
settlers were planning to enter the compound, threw stones at a group of
visitors escorted by police. Police said the visitors were French tourists. Rioters and policemen were lightly wounded in the clash. In neighboring Jordan, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh summoned the
Israeli ambassador and protested what the Jordanian government called
"Israel's continuous violations of the sanctity of Muslim and Christian
holy sites in east Jerusalem," according to the country's official Petra
news agency. Jews venerate the site as the location of two biblical temples. Israel
has controlled it since 1967, but day-to-day administration is in the
hands of Muslim clerics.
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