From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 14, 2019
Scuffles on Temple Mount after mosque guards refuse entry to Jewish policeman
Palestinian officials say scuffles have broken out on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City after guards at the mosque refused to allow an Israeli policeman to enter for a routine security check because he was wearing a Jewish skullcap.
Firas Dibs, a spokesman for the Islamic authority that oversees the site, says scuffles erupted between dozens of worshipers and police after the guards closed the doors to the mosque and barricaded themselves inside. He says the director of the mosque was lightly wounded.
شرطة الاحتلال تحاصر مسجد قبة الصخرة في المسجد الأقصى المبارك وتمنع دخول المصلين .#الأقصى_في_خطر pic.twitter.com/UCJkBKZYRj
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) January 14, 2019
The Temple Mount — site of the Biblical Jewish temples, and which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine — has often been the epicenter of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians as the holiest site in Judaism and third-holiest site in Islam.
Israeli police could not immediately be reached for comment.
— with AP
The Times of Israel Community.