The Islamic authority that oversees Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem rejected Tuesday an Israeli court order to close a contested religious area that has ignited tension between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli police in recent weeks.
The two senior Waqf officials were arrested on Sunday in a follow-up to Friday’s riots on the Temple Mount in which thousands of Palestinians stormed the Golden Gate, which had been closed by a court order since 2003.
The Jerusalem Wakf Council announced on Sunday that a section of the Temple Mount that was closed by Israel in 2003 will remain open, even after the arrest of two of its senior officials.
The Palestinians and the Jordanians have set up a joint council for the administration of the Temple Mount and other Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem in an effort to preemptively torpedo the advancement of US President Donald Trump’s regional peace plan.
Dozens of Palestinians tried to force their way into the Golden Gate site on the Temple Mount on Tuesday, triggering scuffles with police officers, eyewitnesses said.
Palestinian worshipers clashed with Israeli police on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Tuesday, trying to force their way into an area of the flash-point holy compound that has been closed for years. Police said 19 Palestinians were arrested.
Last Tuesday, the Temple Institute’s Red Heifer program was blessed with results; an entirely red female calf was born, paving the way for re-establishing the Temple service and marking the final stage of redemption.
Police forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque during clashes with Muslim worshipers Friday afternoon that led to an hours-long closure of the Jerusalem holy site.
The stone that fell from the Western Wall earlier this week proves that Israel has devised a plan to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a spokesperson for the ruling Fatah faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed on Thursday.
A record number of Jews were said to have visited the Temple Mount on Sunday to mark the Tisha B’Av fast mourning the destruction of the two biblical temples, prompting rebukes from Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.
Concluding a three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Prince William traveled Thursday morning to the Mount of Olives to visit the grave of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who saved a Jewish family during the Holocaust and was buried at the cemetery in the late 1980s.
According to eye witnesses, the Jews who entered the holy site were singing, while the Arabs called out ‘Allahu Akbar.’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that visits to Temple Mount by Israeli MKs be significantly restricted for the next three months.
Palestinians across East Jerusalem will hold mass protests on Friday in the wake of a court-approved Passover sacrifice ceremony held by religious Jews close to the Temple Mount on Monday, the leader of the city’s Al-Aqsa Mosque announced on Tuesday.
Three Arab citizens from the village of Um el-Fahm were indicted on Monday for plotting a terrorist attack on the Temple Mount in the name of Islamic State, the Shin Bet security agency announced.
U.S. Reps. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) and David B. McKinley (R-W.Va.) no doubt anticipated an eye-opening experience when they visited the Temple Mount on Thursday as part of their current trip to Israel. So imagine their surprise when they were detained by Israel police after an Islamic Waqf official, which administers the Temple Mount, lodged a complaint against them.
Israel Police and a group of Jewish worshipers clashed on Wednesday in the Temple Mount compound. Police said a group Jewish visitors violated the terms of the visit and created a provocation that caused a feud at the place. Videos of the incident show that Palestinians were also involved in the riots.
Since the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last month, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become the leading voice of the Arab and Islamic opposition to the move. His country even hosted a special meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), during which he called Israel a “terror state” and threatened to cut its diplomatic ties with it.
The number of visits by religious Jews to the Temple Mount has increased by 75% in 2017, compared to 2016, according to the Yera’eh organization, which encourages Jewish ascent to the Temple Mount.
While there may not be a Third Temple at which Israeli Jews can worship atop the Jerusalem Temple Mount, there is a brand-new synagogue under the foundation of the holy site – and it’s open for prayer.