JERUSALEM (AA) – Scores of Jewish settlers, including hardline member of Knesset (Israel’s parliament) Yehuda Glick, forced their way into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Wednesday, according to a Palestinian official.
“Around 35 Jewish settlers stormed the compound under the protection of Israeli forces,” Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, a Jordan-run organization responsible for overseeing the city’s Islamic and Christian sites, told Anadolu Agency.
He said Glick was among the settlers who toured the holy site in the morning.
Tension has mounted in Jerusalem since last week when Israeli police shut the Al-Aqsa mosque compound’s Al-Rahma Gate, preventing Palestinian worshippers from entering the site and sparking angry demonstrations.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount, ” claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, in which the Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
In late 2000, a visit to Al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon sparked what later became known as the “Second Intifada, ” a five-year-long popular uprising in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.
