ISRAEL PLANS TO LIMIT MUSLIM ACCESS TO AL AQSA MOSQUE

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A Palestinian woman takes a picture as Israeli police walk in front of the Dome of the Rock during clashes with stone-throwing protesters after Friday prayers, outside Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. Israeli police hurled stun grenades to disperse stone-throwing Palestinian protesters outside the mosque, Islam's third holiest site. Reuters
A Palestinian woman takes a picture as Israeli police walk in front of the Dome of the Rock during clashes with stone-throwing protesters after Friday prayers, outside Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israeli police hurled stun grenades to disperse stone-throwing Palestinian protesters outside the mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. Reuters

JERUSALEM, Feb 28 –– Israeli police said they will limit access for Muslim men to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound during Friday prayers to prevent possible clashes following services, reported AFP.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said on Thursday that men under the age of 50 will be barred from Friday prayers, based on intelligence of plans for unrest, with security forces bolstering their presence in the area.

The decision comes after police clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians at the compound on Tuesday, hours ahead of a debate in the Israeli parliament on Jews’ right to pray at the compound, which is currently denied.

The discussion, which did not result in a vote or any practical measures, sparked fury in the Muslim world, with the parliament of Jordan — the custodian of the site — voting to expel Israel’s envoy and its premier warning Amman might review its peace treaty with Israel.

And the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Wednesday condemned the debate as a “dangerous escalation,” calling it part of Israel’s goal to “Judaize Jerusalem.”

OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani described the move as “a dangerous and unprecedented step that comes as part of Israel’s racist policy … aiming to Judaize Jerusalem.” Urging world action against Israel, Madani warned that “this dangerous escalation provokes the feelings of the whole Muslim nation.”

The Knesset on Tuesday began a debate called by rightwingers to demand that Israel end its practice of forbidding Jewish prayer at the compound. In a motion which was not put to a vote, MP Moshe Feiglin, a hardline member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said Israel’s fear of igniting Muslim rage amounted to discrimination against Jews. Jews now pray at the Western Wall plaza below the compound.

OIC chief Madani insisted that Al-Aqsa is a “red line,” warning that “such acts not only threaten the peace process but security and stability in the whole region.”

Israeli police on Tuesday clashed with stone-throwing Palestinian protesters at the compound ahead of the Knesset debate. Sitting above the Western Wall plaza, the compound houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque.–Agencies

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theclarionindiahttps://clarionindia.net
Clarion India - News, Views and Insights about Indian Muslims, Dalits, Minorities, Women and Other Marginalised and Dispossessed Communities.

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