Work near Jerusalem holy sites triggers spiralling protest

ISRAEL: Israel pressed on with public works near Jerusalem’s ultra-sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound under heavy police guard ignoring protests from Muslim leaders around the world.

Some 2,000 policemen have been deployed across the Old City and around what is the most contested holy site in the Middle East, revered by Muslims as their third holiest site and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

Sheikh Tayssir al-Tamimi, who heads the religious courts in the Palestinian territories, called for a worldwide one-day protest to denounce the works, preceded by excavations, that Israel insists pose no harm to the compound.

A Palestinian militant group linked to the secular Fatah party threatened to attack synagogues in retaliation.

“If the Zionist enemy and the settlers continue the Al-Aqsa work, we will target synagogues and other sites in the Jewish faith,” announced the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which take its name from the Jerusalem compound.

Muslim governments from pro-Western Egypt and Jordan, to US foe Iran have spoken out against the Israeli move.

“The reaction of the Islamic world to this insulting move should be in a way to make the Zionist regime regret it,” state television quoted Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Khatib called in the ambassadors of the major powers to demand “serious efforts” at the UN Security Council to halt the Israeli work.

Jerusalem, Thursday, AFP