Israeli authorities say they have no intention of changing the status quo, and police are enforcing a prohibition on animal sacrifices. The Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over or partition the mosque compound, and in recent weeks calls by Jewish extremists to sacrifice animals there have circulated widely among Palestinians on social media, sparking calls to defend the mosque. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state. Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - which includes the Old City - in the 1967 Mideast war. But the Jerusalem clashes and a recent wave of violence have brought renewed attention to the conflict with the Palestinians, which Israel has sought to sideline in recent years.Īn Arab party that made history last year by joining Israel's governing coalition suspended its participation on Sunday - a largely symbolic act that nevertheless reflected the sensitivity of the holy site, which is at the emotional heart of the century-old conflict. Israel has been working to improve relations with Jordan over the past year and has recently normalized relations with other Arab states over their shared concerns about Iran. Israeli police clashed with Palestinians outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque after they were cleared by police from the sprawling compound to facilitate the routine visit of Jews to the holy site. Palestinians shoot fireworks at Israeli police in the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday. Jordan planned to convene a meeting of other Arab states on the issue. Jordan's King Abdullah II discussed the violence with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, agreeing on "the need to stop all illegal and provocative Israeli measures" there, according to a statement. Jordan - which serves as custodian of the site - summoned Israel's chargé d'affaires on Monday in protest. Jordan and Egypt, which made peace with Israel decades ago and co-ordinate with it on security matters, have condemned its actions at the mosque. Christians were also celebrating their holy week leading up to Easter, and tens of thousands of visitors have flocked to Jerusalem's Old City - home to major holy sites for all three faiths - for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest tensions come during the confluence of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday, ahead of the rocket fire, that Israel has been the target of a "Hamas-led incitement campaign." Tensions come amid religious holidays Palestinians view the presence of police at the site as a provocation. Police said they were responding to Palestinian stone-throwing and that they were committed to ensuring that Jews, Christians and Muslims - whose major holidays are converging this year - could celebrate them safely. Medics said that at least 152 Palestinians were wounded. It is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because the mosque stands on a hilltop where the Jewish temples were located in antiquity.ĭuration 2:12 Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem before dawn on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.
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Palestinians and Israeli police clashed over the weekend in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, which has long been an epicentre of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Ziad al-Nakhalah, who is based outside the Palestinian territories, said threats to tighten an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza imposed after Hamas took power in 2007 "can't silence us from what's happening in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank."
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Hours earlier, the leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group, which boasts an arsenal of rockets, had issued a brief, cryptic warning, condemning Israeli "violations" in Jerusalem.
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It was the first such rocket fire since New Year's Eve.
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Israel holds Gaza's militant Hamas rulers responsible for all such projectiles. Israel said it intercepted the rocket from Palestinian militants, and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
#Soaring over bastion series#
Palestinian militants fired a rocket into southern Israel for the first time in months on Monday, in a potentially major escalation after clashes at a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem and a wave of attacks and military raids elsewhere.Įarly Tuesday, Israeli fighter jets carried out a series of airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip, targeting a "weapons manufacturing site" for Hamas, the Israeli military said.