A number of Jewish visitors begin to arrive at the Temple Mount compound, including far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvr says that it is his right to go to the site.
“Throughout the years every time we live here they say it upsets them. So what, we should go back to Europe?” says the provocateur lawmaker.
The Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, is the holiest site for Jews and site of the third holiest shrine in Islam. It is the emotional epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and tensions there helped ignite the 11-day Gaza war in May.
Under an informal nut increasingly frayed arrangement known as the status quo, Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there.
Police are said to believe they can contain any escalation in the security situation caused by Ben Gvir’s visit to the compound. A few dozen Palestinians have barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and have thrown stones at police officers stationed outside.
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