Clashes rock Al Aqsa Mosque compound for third day

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/ BRUSSELS — Palestinians and Israeli security forces clashed in Jerusalem's flashpoint Al Aqsa Mosque compound and the surrounding Old City for a third straight day on Tuesday despite international calls for calm. 

Young demonstrators gathered around the mosque threw stones at Israeli forces who had entered the compound in large numbers and responded with stun grenades, an AFP journalist said.

Israeli forces said they cleared debris from the entrance of the mosque and closed the door on those inside who had been throwing stones, fireworks and other objects at security forces.

The Jordanian organisation that administers the site, the Waqf, said that Israeli forces entered deep inside the mosque and caused damage, according to Agence France-Presse.

The new flare-up came despite calls for restraint from both the United Nations and the United States, and a warning from Jordan, which has custodianship rights over holy places in Jerusalem under its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, that relations were on the line.

The protesters fear Israel is seeking to change rules governing the site which allow Jews to visit but not pray, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the status quo will be preserved.

The site is the third-holiest in Islam but also venerated by Jews as the Temple Mount.

According to Israeli forces, youths barricaded themselves inside the mosque overnight as they had over the two previous days with the aim of disrupting visits by Jews to the compound.

Masked protesters threw stones towards the gate when regular visits to the site began on Tuesday morning, police said.

After security forces entered the compound, "masked assailants fled inside the mosque and began throwing dozens of stones" and other objects, including fireworks, police said.

There were at least four arrests, while clashes also broke out in the Old City surrounding the compound. Limited visits to the site were later allowed to go ahead.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 26 people were wounded, of whom two were hospitalised. Israeli forces said five officers were lightly injured.

Old City clashes 

Security spokeswoman Luba Samri said security forces shut the door on protesters inside the mosque in a tactic they have used in the past to restore calm. 

Previous such incidents have seen Israeli forces briefly enter the mosque to shut the door.

“Police forces did not penetrate into the interior of Al Aqsa Mosque,” Sabri said in a statement.

Waqf spokesman Firas Al Dibs said “police stormed Al Aqsa Mosque and went inside” as far as the minbar, or imam’s pulpit. He said Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades that caused fires.

Clashes in the Old City appeared to be more intense than over the previous two days. Israeli forces fired stun grenades to push back protesters who threw stones and yelled: “We will never give up because Mohammed is our leader.”

Meanwhile, the EU warned Tuesday against any “provocation” at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

“The reported violence and escalation [at the site] constitute a provocation and incitement” ahead of important Jewish and Muslim holy days, European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters in Brussels.

“It is crucial that all parties demonstrate calm and restraint and full respect for the status quo of the holy sites,” Kocijancic said.

The 28-nation EU had recently “issued an appeal for full respect of the holy sites and said very clearly that any change of the status quo would have deeply destablising effects,” she added.

The EU is part of the Middle East Quartet seeking a diplomatic solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, along with the United States, the United Nations and Russia.