Temple Mount opens to Jewish visitors for Rosh Hashana after police quell riot
Netanyahu to convene emergency meeting after holiday to discuss stone-throwing phenomenon in Jerusalem.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, NOAM AMIR/MAARIV HASHAVUA, YUVAL BAGNO/MAARIVUpdated: SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 15:27Jerusalem's Old City and the Temple Mount(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
An Israeli police officer on Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Monday was injured by two stone-throwing youth as police prepared the site for Jewish visitors for the Jewish New Year. The officer received medical treatment at the scene. Three stone-throwers were arrested.Jerusalem District Police Chief Moshe Edri and his forces were present at the Temple Mount compound on Monday to ensure the public's safety. As they entered, rioters whose faces were covered ran in the direction of al-Aqsa Mosque and threw objects at the Israeli forces from there. The forces overcame the obstacles that were placed in front of the mosque, forced the rioters inside and shut the door behind them.Following the disturbances, Jewish visitors and tourists began to enter the site normally and police said that around 500 people visited on Monday morning. In a separate incident in the morning, a Jewish youth in the Old City passing near the Temple Mount was attacked by Muslim hooligans but security forces managed to push back the attackers. Two suspects were arrested and the victim was treated at the scene.As police quelled the riot in the capital, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene an emergency meeting after the end of the Rosh Hashana holiday on Tuesday evening to discuss the challenge of ending the acts of rioters who throw stones and firebombs in Jerusalem and area.Defense Miniser Moshe Ya'alon, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Transportation Minister Israel Katz, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, members of the State Attorney's office, and other security officials are expected to take part in the meeting.On Sunday night a man died after his car lost control in Jerusalem after what police say may have been a stone-throwing attack.The Temple Mount saw rioting yesterday as well. Israeli police raided the plaza outside al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday in what they said was a bid to head off Palestinian attempts to disrupt visits by Jews and foreign tourists on the eve of the Jewish New Year.
The Jordanian government condemned Israel on Sunday for what it terms as the "storming" of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City.The Palestinian youths, Israeli police said in a statement, had intended "to disrupt the routine of visits to the Temple Mount on the eve of Rosh Hashana", the Jewish New Year, which began at sunset on Sunday.Police used tear gas and threw stun grenades towards the Palestinian youths, who barricaded themselves inside the mosque and hurled rocks and flares, a Reuters witness said.