Likud youth set to visit Temple Mount

Dozens of members of the Likud party’s youth movement were set to make a controversial visit to the Temple Mount Thursday, hours after police made a fresh series of arrests of Islamist protesters suspected of involvement in the recent unrest at the Jerusalem holy site.

The visit by young members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political party comes amid days of violent clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters at the Temple Mount, which houses the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Members of the movement told Israel Radio the visit aimed to assert Israeli sovereignty over the flashpoint site deemed the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. Jewish presence on the Temple Mount is largely seen by the Arab world as part of an Israeli attempt to seize control of the site.

According to the report, officials from the Prime Minister’s Office unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade the 50-odd activists from ascending to the Temple Mount.

While the violent confrontations had mostly died down by Wednesday, police on Thursday said they detained eight more protesters for their suspected involvement in the recent clashes, which saw over a dozen police officers injured by rocks and firecrackers hurled at them by protesters. Six of those detained were minors.

Since the beginning of the week, at least three dozen Palestinians were arrested in connection with the unrest.

A fatal rock-throwing attack by Palestinians that killed an Israeli man in Jerusalem’s East Talpiot neighborhood fueled tensions further between Israelis and Palestinians during the long Rosh Hashanah weekend.

Netanyahu on Tuesday renewed his commitment to fighting terrorism, vowing to use “any means necessary” to curb stone-throwing attacks and the violence on the Temple Mount.

Ahead of an emergency meeting convened to discuss curbing Palestinian use of homemade weapons against Israelis, Netanyahu announced he was fast-tracking legislation that would introduce mandatory minimum sentences for suspects convicted of using such weapons.

The measures introduced by the prime minister would see the minimum sentence for stone-throwers increased to 4-5 years in prison, while those caught throwing firebombs would serve no less than 10 years behind bars, Channel 2 reported Wednesday.

Netanyahu’s legislation would also allow for Israeli security forces to use rubber bullets to disperse violent protesters and use snipers to maintain calm during protests.

Additionally, parents of stone-throwing minors would be fined NIS 100,000 ($26,000).

Even with Netanyahu pushing the legislation through the Knesset, it will likely take several months before such laws are enacted.

Netanyahu also ordered the Israel Police and state prosecution to form a separate committee to examine ways to deter attacks by increasing the severity of penalties and sentences.

The clashes began Sunday morning, with security forces seizing pipe bombs at the site in an operation carried out hours before Jews prepared to celebrate the Jewish New Year. The Shin Bet security service alerted police to the cache, apparently an effort by Palestinians to stock up on bombs, flares and rocks ahead of an organized riot.

The police said its forces had entered the site after protesters began throwing stones and firecrackers at the Mughrabi Gate, the access point for non-Muslim visitors to the site. Police said that protesters had wedged open a door to the mosque, which officers had later closed, allowing visits to the Temple Mount to continue as scheduled.

The UN and US have urged restraint on both sides amid the latest clashes, while Jordan, which has custodianship rights over Muslim holy places in Jerusalem under its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, has warned that ties are at stake.

The White House on Tuesday also said it was deeply concerned by the uptick in violence in Jerusalem. Spokesman Josh Earnest called on all sides to “exercise restraint” and “refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric” on the Temple Mount.

The 28-nation EU recently “issued an appeal for full respect of the holy sites and said very clearly that any change of the status quo would have deeply destabilizing effects.”