OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque went ahead peacefully despite tensions in the holy city, but Palestinians later wounded two Jews as they walked to worship not far away.
In the West Bank city of Hebron, stone-throwing Palestinians rioted, responding to a call by the Hamas movement for a “day of rage.”
After Israel dropped age restrictions for attending Friday prayers for the second week running, tens of thousands of people made their way to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Arab East Jerusalem.
Police were out in force to prevent a repeat of clashes, led by young Palestinians, that have rocked the city for months.
Men and women of all ages shuffled into the compound as police carefully checked the identity cards of younger worshippers.
But after dark, a few hundred meters away, Palestinians attacked seven Israelis on their way to Sabbath eve prayers, lightly injuring two of them after an exchange of insults.
“A group of Jewish worshippers were attacked as they walked ... to Beit Horot,” police said, referring to a Jewish seminary set up on the Mount of Olives by ultranationalist rabbi Benny Elon in 1999.
One man was stabbed in the back and the second hit with a blunt instrument, apparently an iron bar.
The Palestinians have been infuriated by a far-right Jewish campaign for prayer rights at the compound that threatens an ultra-sensitive, decades-old status quo under which Jews may visit but not pray.
Police had tried to preempt unrest by limiting male entry to those over 35, but Israel eased the restrictions last week as part of steps aimed at reducing tensions.
While Israel controls entry to the site in the Old City, Jerusalem’s Muslim authorities administer it, while Jordan acts as custodian.
Despite the lifting of the age restrictions, resentment simmered under the surface.
“The age limitations are only lifted because it’s to their [Israel’s] benefit,” said 23-year-old Amir, an engineer who had come from Ramallah in the West Bank to pray for the first time since June.
“People are afraid of coming. The situation here is very risky.”
In the West Bank city of Hebron, hundreds of Palestinians heeded a call from Hamas for a “day of rage” in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
A military spokeswoman said “350 rioters threw stones outside a mosque” and “were being dispersed by nonlethal means.”
No arrests were made. Separately, Israel rejected an appeal by the EU’s five biggest members to not raze the homes of Palestinians who carried out lethal attacks in Jerusalem, saying that the tactic was designed to deter further violence.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said the Foreign Ministry heard arguments from the German, French, British, Italian and Spanish envoys that the demolitions, carried out against one East Jerusalem dwelling this week and planned against four more, were liable to inflame tensions and were counterproductive.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the ambassadors were told the measure was consistent with Israeli law and would be pursued.
Israel used home demolitions extensively during the Palestinian revolt of 2000-05 but halted the practice, citing concern that it entrenched hostility.
Its revival in Jerusalem has also drawn criticism from the United States.
And in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the idea of Germany recognizing Palestine as a state unilaterally, saying the Palestinians and Israel could solve their long-running conflict only through negotiations.
The aim should be a negotiated two-state solution, Merkel told a news conference after meeting Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. “Therefore from our point of view, a unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state would not move us forward on the way to a two-state solution,” the chancellor said.
Michel said Belgium generally favored recognizing Palestine as a state. “But the question is when is the right moment,” he added, stressing the need for a common EU position.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Nov-22/278547-palestinians-assault-two-israelis-after-quiet-al-aqsa-prayers.ashx#ixzz3Jq1YDNCg
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