Top Fatah official: Israel "playing with fire" through Temple Mount "provocations."
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, JPOST.COM STAFFpolice al aksa pretty 311 AJ(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A senior Palestinian Authority official on Sunday called on Israeli Arabs and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to come to al Aksa Mosque in the Old City “to protect it from Israeli schemes.”Top Fatah official and holder of the Jerusalem portfolio Khatem Abd el-Kader called Palestinians on Sunday to “converge on al Aksa to save it” from what he called “Israeli attempts to destroy the mosque and replace it with the [Jewish] temple.” Khader was speaking ahead of a dedication of a renovated synagogue inthe Jewish Quarter in the Old City, planned to take place Tuesday.He called Israel’s renovation of the Hurva Synagogue a “provocation” and warned Israel that it was “playing with fire.”Police has been imposing a ban on Israeli Arabs from coming to theTemple Mount, fearing clashes might erupt. Only holders of Israeli IDcards over 50 years old were allowed into the mosque.The closure remains in place until after the dedication of the synagogue on Tuesday.
