Feiglin: Denial shows sovereignty of site belongs to Wakf and not Israel; police spread out in e. J'lem to secure peace.
By JPOST.COM STAFFLikud activist Moshe Feiglin at the Kotel 390(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Police denied Likud MK Moshe Feiglin entry to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning. The police barred Feiglin as a precautionary measure following intelligence that hundreds of Arabs in the area intended to protest his visit.Police were spread out in east Jerusalem and the alleyways of the Old City on Wednesday to keep the peace.Feiglin complained that he was denied entry to the site despite having coordinated his visit with security services, Israel Radio reported. He added that his inability to visit the Temple Mount on Wednesday shows the "sovereignty of the site belongs to the Wakf [Muslim religious administration] and not to Israel."Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel, from the national-religious Bayit Yehudi party, visited the Mount on Monday without a problem.On Monday, two people were detained by police in Jerusalem as they were making their way to the Temple Mount.The hard-right political and religious activists Noam Federman and Arye Sunnenberg, intended to go to the Temple Mount and carry out the Jewish ritual of the Passover Sacrifice, involving the slaughter of a lamb.Although the Supreme Court has upheld Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount, the court allows the police to prevent prayer and other forms of worship if they believe that such activity will cause a disturbance of the public order.The Wakf Muslim religious trust which administers the Temple Mount is fiercely opposed to any non-Muslim prayer there.Earlier this month, police removed Feiglin from the Temple Mount after the politician demanded entry to the Dome of the Rock, saying he was exercising his rights as a Knesset member.Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
