Jerusalem: Fighting at al-Aqsa

Monday morning starts very excited in Jerusalem. To avoid complete chaos, Israeli authorities have decided that Jews will not be allowed to walk on the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif as the Palestinians call it, reports Haaretz.

Then Israeli police and security forces entered the area where the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque stand, and which is the third holiest site in the world for all the world’s Muslims. This is where they are now in clashes with Palestinians, Haaretz writes.

Fear of chaos

The police estimate that there are now around 8,000 Palestinians in the holy area, and they will bring with them both stones, iron bars and Molotov cocktails. They are ready to fight against the warned right-wing extremist Israelis, who had intended to enter the sacred area with Israeli flags.

Palestinian Red Crescent reports that 180 people are injured, one of them seriously, Haaretz writes. The Israelis will now prevent the Palestinian Red Crescent from sending medical teams into the air, according to a spokesman for the organization.

“The most exciting day of the year,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz calls it today. Israelis celebrate Jerusalem Day, which for them means that Israel took control of the Old City and the holy sites in the 1967 war.

The situation in Jerusalem has been very tense over the past month, while the Palestinians celebrate the holy month of Ramadan. There have been a number of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces, which has caused international concern.

Will take neighborhood

There is complete chaos in Jerusalem now because Israeli settlers want to take over Palestinian homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

–