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TITLE: Israeli Troops Storm Temple Mount |
AUTHOR: |
PUB: Reuters |
DATE: April 20, 2001 |
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Israeli police armed with assault rifles mounted a show of force Friday at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy place, al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Temple Mount, where the current Palestinian uprising began. Responding to Palestinian stone-throwing after Friday Muslim prayers at al-Aqsa mosque on the site, police in battle gear stormed the area. ''A large police force entered the area of the Temple Mount. The stone throwing stopped,'' a police spokesman said. There was no shooting during the incident and no one was injured, witnesses said. ''The Waqf (Muslim religious authority) must ensure that the Temple Mount is used as a site for holy prayer and not allow it to become a place for nationalistic disturbances,'' police said in a statement. Police did not enter al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock, the two mosques on the esplanade, administered by the Waqf. Jews revere the area as Temple Mount, site of the biblical Jewish temples. The push onto the complex marked the first time in weeks that such a large police force had entered the area, inside the walled Old City of Jerusalem. The current Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in September, after now-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon toured the holy site. Muslims said his visit had defiled the shrine. Sharon has denied he was the cause of the uprising, which erupted after Israeli-Palestinian peace talks deadlocked, and he believes that Jews have the right to go anywhere in Jerusalem. END |