A masked Palestinian wearing a Hamas headband takes a burnt carpet out of Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City during clashes at the compound on September 13, 2015, just hours before the start of the Jewish new year. (AFP PHOTO/AHMAD GHARABLI)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene urgent consultations Tuesday evening, once the Jewish new year holiday is over, to discuss the ongoing violence on the Temple Mount, which on Monday saw Palestinians clashing with Israeli police officers for a second consecutive day.
Attending the Tuesday meeting will be Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and representatives of the security forces.
Masked protesters attacked police with stones and metal rods on Monday, Army Radio reported, before fleeing into the al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop the site.
Police on Sunday discovered pipe bombs during what they said was a preemptive operation at the Mount as Israel geared up to celebrate the Jewish new year.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an IDF base on March 10, 2015. (photo credit: Ohad Zwigenberg)
Clashes between Muslim visitors and Israeli police frequently occur on the Mount, which is considered Judaism’s holiest site and Islam’s third-holiest. Visits by Jews to the complex are allowed, but all forms of Jewish prayer are prohibited.
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Ya’alon last week banned the murabitun and murabitat — male and female groups respectively of East Jerusalem Palestinians and Israeli Arabs who regularly harass Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount, which Jews believe was the site of the two Jewish Temples.
The commander of the Israel Police said Sunday that the force would not tolerate any efforts to harm human life, in particular on the Temple Mount.
“Israel Police will not allow any harm to public security or the sovereignty of the state in general, and at its capital or the Temple Mount in particular,” said interim police chief Bentzi Sau in a statement published on Facebook.
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The discovery of the pipe bombs prompted Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to warn Sunday that Israel would review arrangements at the site.
Still image taken from a video released by the Israel Police Spokesman apparently showing Palestinians gearing up for a confrontation on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday, September 13, 2015. (screen capture: Israel Police)
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