GLENN BECK ANNOUNCES "RALLY IN JERUSALEM" IN AUGUST BY: FERN SIDMAN On Monday, May 16th, FOX news personality and conservative talk show host Glenn Beck announced his intention of organizing a major rally in Jerusalem that is scheduled for August. During his morning radio program, he reminded his listeners of his previous rally, held in Washington, DC on August 28, 2010 called "Restoring Honor" which drew hundreds of thousands of people. Mr. Beck exhorted "all decent people and people of faith" to join him in Jerusalem in a rally called "Restoring Courage". Having recently returned from a trip to Israel, where he visited the Temple Mount, he said upon his departure, "The Temple Mount almost pulsated. I could feel it.” As a vocal advocate and fervent supporter of Israel, Mr. Beck has made Israel and the Jewish people a focal point of his broadcasts. On Feb. 4, 2011, Mr. Beck offered his prognostications on the revolution in Egypt by telling his television audience that, "If President Hosni Mubarak does step down, however, the Muslim Brotherhood would be the most likely group to seize power. They've openly stated they want to declare war on Israel and they would end the peace agreement with Israel and they would work towards instituting something we told you about, a caliphate." Often declaring his deeply held conviction that Israel and the Jewish people are being "set up", Mr. Beck has consistently addressed the exponential rise in anti-Semitism. "Old hatreds are coming over the horizon; it's a well-laid plan. Right now, when you're paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, it's tough. Pretty soon, you're going to want somebody to blame. And politicians always are there to give you someone to blame. And mark my words, we will be paying 10 dollars a gallon for gasoline. When that happens and someone comes to you and says, "It's the Jews. It's Israel. If they would just give up Jerusalem. If they would just divide Jerusalem." It is coming. This will be the mantra come September. "If they just divide Jerusalem, they just give it up! Go back to the '67 lines." It's coming", he ruefully observed. Issuing an impassioned appeal to his listeners earlier today, Mr. Beck warned that Israel is in imminent danger, "Things in Israel are going to get bad. They are going to spread across the Middle East. The things that I've told you are coming, will come. It's only a matter of time." Making an oblique reference to the upcoming meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Beck said, "There are people that will promise you "peace" in the coming months. They are going to attack the center of our faith; our common faith, and that is Jerusalem but it won't be with bullets or bombs. It will be with a two-state solution that cuts off Jerusalem; the Old City, to the rest of the world." Alluding to the dramatic escalation in global anti-Western and anti-Israel animus, Mr. Beck said, "There are forces in this land, and forces all over the globe that are trying to destroy us, but remember, 'we are the great Satan and Israel is the little Satan'". Offering a historical retrospective, he said, "Many in the history of man have had the opportunity to stand with the Jewish people; Poland, Russia, Germany, and time and time and time again, they have failed." As a devout Mormon, Mr. Beck spoke of his religious beliefs in the unfolding of geo-political realities. "The only seat of government that can and will solve this problem, with or without us is G-d. It is time to return inside the walls that surround Jerusalem and stand with peoples of all faiths, all around the world." Beseeching his listeners to join the rally in Jerusalem, Mr. Beck exclaimed, "As a citizen of America and a brother in the family of man, I come to you today and ask you to stand; stand with me in Jerusalem." Candidly admitting that he didn't know how many people would show up, or how much the event would cost, he declared that the rally would be "a life altering event" and warned that the "very gates of hell" would fight his attempts to hold the rally.
 A militant Islamist group associated with al Qaeda has for the first time threatened to attack Israel, far from its normal base of operations in Somalia.
Al-Shabab, which is fighting to control the east African country, accused Israel of "starting to destroy" the Al Aqsa mosque, where standoffs have taken place recently between Israeli police and Palestinians.
The mosque is part of the complex that Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif.
"The Jews started to destroy parts of the holy mosque of Al Aqsa and they routinely kill our Palestinian brothers, so we are committed to defend our Palestinian brothers," said Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, a prominent Al-Shabab commander.
His threat was part of a series of fiery sermons delivered after Friday prayers in Baidoa in southwest Somalia. Al-Shabab controls the region, which is part of a country that has been without an effective national government for nearly 20 years.
Other leaders of the group also threatened Israel, the first time the group is known to have done so. "We will transfer and expand our fighting in the Middle East so we can defend Al Aqsa mosque from the Israelis," Al-Shabab commander Abdifatah Aweys Abu Hamza said in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. Read more at CNN H/T: JihadWatch 
 Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch urged on Wednesday both Arabs and Jews to abstain from provocations, in the wake of recent riots in the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem. Addressing the issue of violence in the Old City at the Knesset, the minister said, "I will not allow leaders on both sides, the Arab and the Jewish, to further incite and use the holy sites for their political interests. I will not let the Temple Mount turn into a boxing ring." Following a brief quiet spell, riots broke out again earlier in the week in Jerusalem's Old City. More than 20 people were detained while members of the Islamic Movement, accused by police of inflaming the crowds, claimed that Arabs only wished to pray at the site and slamming police for provoking the unrest by using excessive force. Speaking at the Knesset on Wednesday, Aharonovitch said, "I call on both sides – the Jewish MKs, who encourage visits to the Temple Mount and falsely accuse the police, and the Arab MKs, who urge to save the al-Aqsa mosque thus stirring and inciting - you know that al-Aqsa wasn't in danger, is not in danger and will not be in danger in the future." The minister went on to say, "The Temple Mount is a holy place and the public should not be dragged into violence at the site. I call on you to back law enforcement authorities and allow them to do their job. "In conclusion, while taking personal responsibility for maintaining the order, I hereby declare: Enough with the delusional groups in the Jewish sector and enough with the inciters from the Arab sector. Stop messing with Temple Mount. "
Aharonovitch made a similar previous attempt to calm the tensions from the Knesset podium. Earlier this month he addressed MKs and pled with them to mince their words, urging them "not to set Temple Mount on fire."
 Efrat Weiss Nine police officers were lightly injured Sunday stones and Molotov cocktails hurled at forces stationed at the Temple Mount as part of the high state of alert in the area. A female Australian reporter was lightly injured by stones in the Old City. Forces patrolling the area also noticed oil poured on the floor, apparently in order to cause the officers to slip and make their activity in the area more difficult. A police force entered the Temple Mount compound in order to catch the stone throwers, using shock grenades.
More than 18 people were arrested on the Mount and in its surroundings, including senior Fatah member Khatem Abdel Kader, who is charge of the Jerusalem portfolio in the Palestinian organization. Palestinians and members of the Waqf reported that at least eight worshippers were injured, but the police said they were unaware of any injuries.
Abdel Kader was arrested at the Temple Mount plaza after allegedly rioting, assaulting policemen and calling on worshippers to launch a parade. He was taken in for questioning by the Jerusalem Police's minority unit.
Three masked Arab men were arrested in the afternoon hours after hurling stones at the security forces in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amud. Police also detained Ali Abu Sheikha, No. 3 in the Islamic Movement's northern branch.
Abu Sheikha was arrested on suspicion of rioting and calling on residents to go out and demonstrate. In mid October he was detained on suspicion of inciting Arabs near the Temple Mount during the riots which began on Yom Kippur Eve.
Another incident was recorded when Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) tried to enter the Temple Mount but was stopped by the police. "This is extremely severe," Tibi said in response. "The police are violating the law. It's not in their authority. The al-Aqsa Mosque is not a closed military zone."
Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen told reporters while visiting the Mount, "I identify many large groups of east Jerusalem Arabs and Israeli Arabs who have arrived here following calls made by the Islamic Movement, whose leaders are here. I call on them to practice restraint and calm and not to incite.
"The Jerusalem Police will act firmly against any rioters on the Temple Mount. The inciters are the same people you know. It's impossible that the Israel Police will have to deal with the Islamic Movement every Sunday, and so we will handle this on the investigative level."
He clarified that the police did not enter the al-Aqsa Mosque and had no plans to do so.
The Jerusalem Police accused elements in the Islamic Movement and Hamas of inflaming the situation after calling on youngsters to riot on the Temple Mount on Saturday.
Read more here,,,,
Source: YNet
 Israeli police have raided al-Aqsa mosque's compound, clashing with Muslim worshippers and arresting Palestinian protesters. Al Jazeera has learnt that the clashes erupted on Sunday after Israeli police tried to enter the compound in occupied Jerusalem's Old City. The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and is revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), comprising al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. At least 10 people were injured and another 15 detained, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem said. Israeli police put the number of arrests at 12. Early on Sunday, Israel police deployed extra troops after calls for demonstrations around the holy site. The Palestinian calls came amid rumours that rightwing Jewish activists were planning to gather at al-Aqsa compound. The rumours circulated after a fringe Israeli group, the Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights on the Temple Mount, called on Jews to gather at the mosque compound as well as the adjacent Western Wall. Palestinian officials said the Israeli police closed off the compound to visitors, leaving hundreds of worshippers inside. Jivara al-Budairi, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said: "Clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli police spread to the Old City neighbourhoods of Bab Hutta, Bab al-Majlis and Aqabat al-Tkiye. She said the injured could not be moved out of the compound because of the Israeli police siege. She said the violence in the Old City erupted after the Israeli police fired tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinian students and youths in the area. The youths retaliated by throwing stones at the soldiers. Columns of black smoke could be seen rising from areas close to the mosque compound, our correspondent said. It seems that Palestinian youths set ablaze tyres in areas where Israeli police and army forces were heavily deployed, she said. A large number of Palestinians began a march from the Old City towards al-Aqsa mosque, she said. The neighbourhood's merchants have, meanwhile, announced a comprehensive strike and closed all shops, al-Budairi said. Micky Rosenfeld, the Israeli police spokesman, said the raid and arrests took place after Palestinian youths threw stones and a petrol bomb at a police patrol near the mosque. Read more here,,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Muslim extremists of being behind recent violence in Jerusalem and said Monday they spread baseless lies to "undermine the peaceful life" in the holy city. The comments followed days of low-level unrest at the city's most sacred shrine. The violence has added to regional tensions fueled by stalled peace efforts, Israeli construction in Jewish settlements and a U.N. report accusing Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Late Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of "Judaizing" Jerusalem and undermining Palestinian claims to the city. In an about-face, Abbas also announced he would push for a vote in the U.N. Human Rights Council, which commissioned the Gaza report, to refer it to the U.N. General Assembly — a move that could ultimately lead to war crimes proceedings against Israel. Israel put thousands of police on high alert in Jerusalem last week after several days of scuffles between police and Palestinians around the disputed hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The competing claims to the site — home to the biblical Jewish Temples and to the Al Aqsa Mosque — is seen as the most intractable issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Arab protests around the site were fed in part by rumors by local Muslim leaders that Israel was digging tunnels under the mosque and planning to take over the site. "I wish to clarify. This is an unfounded lie," Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Monday. "Last week, extremists tried to undermine the peaceful life in Jerusalem," he said. "I appreciate the fact that the vast majority of Arab Israeli citizens did not follow the provocations and did not let the extremists exploit the lies." He also appealed for coexistence with Israel's Arabs, who make up about one-fifth of Israel's 7 million citizens. Netanyahu's comments were his first on the Jerusalem unrest, which has added to growing mistrust of the Israeli leader in the Arab world. Israel and the Palestinians both claim Jerusalem.
Netanyahu insists Israel will retain control over the entire city, including the eastern sector it captured and annexed in 1967.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, home to the most sensitive religious sites, as the capital of a future independent state. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
 Thousands of police officers have deployed in Jerusalem Friday in advance of Muslim prayers on the Temple Mount. Police are on high alert following a week in which Muslims rioted in and around Jerusalem, as Muslim and Arab leaders accused Israel of attempting to harm the al-Aksa Mosque atop the Mount. In an attempt to reduce the chance of riots, police have limited access to the Temple Mount to Muslims only - only females, or men who are under age 18 or over 50.
In addition, only those with Israeli or Jerusalem identity cards will be allowed in, while foreign Muslims will be told to pray elsewhere. Tensions remained high on Thursday. While relative quiet was maintained in Jerusalem's Old City, attacks on Jews were reported in the nearby neighborhood of Mei Shiloach (Silwan) and across Judea and Samaria. Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Movement call to 'Defend Al-Aksa'
As Israel attempts to reduce tensions, Hamas, Fatah and the Israel-based Islamic Movement have each called on Muslims to “defend al-Aksa.” Hamas declared Friday a “Day of Rage” and called on followers to protest, while Fatah called for a general strike on Friday on behalf of the al-Aksa mosque. Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of working with “Jewish extremists” by allowing them to enter the Temple Mount compound. The Islamic Movement, an Israel-based Muslim organization that does not recognize Israel, has called for Israeli Muslims to arrive in Jerusalem for Friday prayers, and to ignore police limitations on the number or age of worshippers to be allowed in.
UN Called to Intervene
The Palestinian Authority has called on the United Nations to intervene in Jerusalem in order to prevent Israel from taking action regarding the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. PA officials, along with senior members of Fatah and Hamas, have accused Israel of planning to allow religious Jews increased access to the Mount. PA minister Riyad al-Maliki relayed the request to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday during a visit to New York. “I informed him of the escalation of Israel's policy against Palestinians and against the al-Aksa Mosque,” he told AFP. The PA and Muslim leaders have accused Israel of sparking Muslim riots in and around Jerusalem by allowing religious Jews – described in PA media as “extremist settlers” - to visit the Temple Mount. Source: INN
 This week, The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) is marking the 30th consecutive year in which Christians from all corners of the globe have ascended to Jerusalem to celebrate the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. More than 5,000 Christian pilgrims from over 80 nations arrived in Jerusalem in recent days to take part in this week-long celebration, making it once again Israel’s largest annual tourist event and the largest solidarity mission to Israel this year. On Tuesday, during the annual Jerusalem March, Feast pilgrims were in national costumes while others wore specially designed “Jerusalem United” T-shirts to convey Christian support for a "united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty." “The status of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is once again being assailed, even to the ludicrous point of denying the 3,000 year old Jewish connection to the city. The Christian Embassy was founded 30 years ago on the principle of marshalling global support for a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty and we have never left that mandate,” said Malcolm Hedding, ICEJ Executive Director. Referring to the recent Arab riots that erupted amid rumors that a group of Jewish extremists was planning to visit the Temple Mount, Hedding stated that Israeli authorities have shown great responsibility in handling the tensions. “The way Israel has responded to the recent scenes involving crowds of agitators trying to deny the rights of others to visit Jerusalem’s holy sites only reinforces our confidence in Israel as the proper guardians of this city, to ensure freedom of access for all peoples,” he said. “The world is constantly declaring that Israel should adhere to human rights, parity and greater access of movement but is absolutely silent when Israel tries to ensure all of these. As Christians, we call on all of those who see Jerusalem as a holy and important city to reject this double standard.” Hedding also referred to the importance of Jerusalem in general and the work the ICEJ was undertaking in the political realm. “At this our 30th Feast we are reaffirming our commitment to stand with the Jewish people in their deep spiritual attachment to Jerusalem, and to working in our home countries for diplomatic recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s unquestioned capital,” he said. Source: YNet
 The head of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, Yusuf Al Qaradawi, is urging Egyptians to turn this Friday into a nationwide day of anger against the "Israeli practices at the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem." The Qatar-based cleric flew to Egypt from Doha on Monday to deliver a speech at the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate in Cairo, where he condemned the Arab governments' silence towards the "violation of Al Aqsa's holiness" by Israeli settlers and occupation forces. Tensions erupted in the area known as Al Haram Al Sharif to Muslims and the Temple Mount to Jews last week when a group of non-Muslims entered the compound, which is the third holiest venue in Islam and the most important in Judaism. While Israeli authorities said that the group was composed of French tourists, Palestinians believed that they were Israeli extremists entering the mosque in celebration of the Jewish Sukkot festival.
Further confrontations took place Sunday as tens of Palestinians entered the mosque overnight amid rumors that larger numbers of Israelis will be allowed to enter the mosque, before Israeli forces shut down the holy site. Muslims under 50 years old were later banned from praying inside the mosque and on Monday, thousands of Jewish worshipers prayed at the Western wall below Al Aqsa for religious celebrations. Qaradawi, who is well-known for his controversial fatwas, urged all Egyptian clerics to dedicate Friday prayer speeches to showing solidarity with Al Aqsa and asking Muslims to gather for peaceful protests afterward. Read more here,,,, Source: LATimes
 By Aaron Klein JERUSALEM – With Israeli police here mobilizing to secure Jerusalem following days of Palestinian rioting, it is instructive to offer some context for clashes that have been taking place on the Temple Mount and at scattered sites throughout the eastern sections of Jerusalem. On Sunday, during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, about 150 Palestinian protesters hurled rocks and bottles at police after Israel barred men between the ages of 18 and 45 from ascending the Mount.
The restrictive order was imposed in response to Palestinian Authority calls for Arabs to flood the holy site to protect the Al Aqsa mosque from so-called Jewish extremists. Yesterday, unable to reach the Temple Mount, Palestinian and Israeli Arab unrest continued with rock-throwing incidents throughout Jerusalem's old city and with the stabbing of an Israeli border guard in a northeastern Jerusalem neighborhood. The unrest, however, is not spontaneous and is not occurring in a vacuum. The riots are being directly incited by the PA, whose official media outlets and institutions are stoking Arab flames by claiming right-wing extremist Jews are attempting to threaten the Al Aqsa mosque – a decades-old blood libel that should be easily dismissible in light of heavy Israeli restrictions on Jews and Christians from ascending the Mount during most hours of the days; whereas Muslims are usually free to access the site at any time. Indeed, Israeli rules prohibit Jews and Christians from praying on the site.
If any so-called extremist Jew attempted to enter the Al Aqsa mosque, he or she would likely be immediately removed from the Temple Mount by Israeli police, who follow Jewish tour groups very closely and coordinate with the Waqf, the Islamic custodians of the site. The PA is not just inciting violence; its officials also are assisting the riots. Yesterday, Israeli security forces released from custody Jerusalem's senior PA official, Khatem Abed Al-Kadr, who had been detained on suspicion of inciting riots.
The PA-aligned Islamic Movement even is sponsoring buses to transport young, riled up Arab Israeli men to Jerusalem and the Mount from the fundamentalist-dominated Muslim city of Um Al-Fahem. Speaking to WND, Dimitri Diliani, the spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party in Jerusalem, did not deny his group's involvement in the riots. "Palestinian political factions, including Fatah, are firm on defending the political, national and religious rights of the Palestinian people," Diliani said, "and it's evident now we will continue defending the Al Aqsa Mosque as well as our rights in Jerusalem as a whole." Read more here,,,,, Source: WND
 After Israeli ministers called for his indictment on Tuesday morning, Islamic Movement leader Raed Salah stated in the afternoon that he and his supporters "would pay any price to defend Al-Aqsa [Mosque]," Israel Radio reported.
Salah, who leads the Islamic Movement's northern branch, called on all Israeli Arabs and residents of east Jerusalem to immediately make their way to the Old City and "shield the mosque with their bodies." In response to accusations of inciting to violence in the Temple Mount compound in the past days, Salah stated that if forced by the Israeli government to choose between imprisonment and defense of the mosque "and occupied Jerusalem," he would choose the former without hesitation. Earlier Tuesday, in the wake of the Arab riots in Jerusalem, Vice Premier Silvan Shalom and National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau called for the Islamic Movement to be outlawed for allegedly inciting the violence, while Interior Minister Eli Yishai stressed that Israel was the sovereign "in the eternal, united capital of the Jewish people." "Sheikh Raed Salah should be behind bars, and so should [deputy head] Kamal Khatib," Shalom told Israel Radio on Tuesday. "I intend to raise the issue in the next cabinet meeting." While Shalom praised the police force for doing its job, he stressed that "it's time for the State Prosecution to start acting ... enough is enough." The Palestinian Authority contributes to the situation by trying to assert its authority over east Jerusalem, Shalom said, but Israel needs to assert its sovereignty on the Temple Mount.
 By Aaron Klein 'U.S. partner' demands Jews, Christians be banned from praying on Mount
JERUSALEM – The Temple Mount does not exist alongside the Western Wall, and neither Jews nor Christians should be allowed to pray on the Mount site, Dimitri Diliani, the spokesman for Fatah in Jerusalem, told WND in an interview. Fatah, once named by the U.S. as a Mideast "peace partner," is the party led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Diliani spoke hours after Fatah and PA officials were accused of inciting a riot on the Temple Mount, claiming Jews were threatening the site. "Don't use the term Temple Mount," Diliani lectured WND. "It doesn't exist. I don't know where it is. I cannot see any Temple. Can you? No one can find any trace of it. The area you refer to is only a Muslim holy site." The PA, though, has found evidence of Judaism's historic connection to the Mount – the holiest site in Judaism. The Waqf, the Islamic custodians of the Mount, conducted an unsupervised excavation on the site in 1997.
At that time, the Waqf, working under the guidance of the PA, ultimately were caught by Israeli authorities disposing truckloads of Mount dirt that contained Jewish Temple artifacts. To this day, Israeli archeologists are still sifting through the large amount of dirt, in which scores of Jewish Temple relics were found. Diliani did not deny Fatah and the PA were involved in yesterday's Temple Mount riots. "Palestinian political factions, including Fatah, are firm on defending the political, national and religious rights of the Palestinian people," Diliani said, "and it's evident now we will continue defending the Al Aqsa Mosque as well as our rights in Jerusalem as a whole." Diliani did not specify exactly which Jews were threatening the Temple Mount. Yesterday, Israeli security forces released from custody Jerusalem's senior Fatah official, Khatem Abed Al-Kadr, who had been detained on suspicion of inciting riots. Al-Kadr was released on condition that he not enter the Old City of Jerusalem. He also must remain at least 250 meters from the area gates for 15 days. Yesterday's riots featured about 150 Palestinian protesters hurling rocks and bottles at Israeli police after Israel barred men between the ages of 18 and 45 from ascending the site that day. The order came after the PA and an Al Aqsa Mosque activist group, the Islamic Movement, called on Arabs to ascend the site yesterday to defend it against "Jewish threats." Read more here,,,, Source: WND
 Israeli security forces have closed off the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jersualem as more than 200 Palestinians stage a sit-in at the site.
Sporadic clashes broke out on Sunday as military and police checkpoints were set up around the site, known as the Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and the Temple Mount to Jews.
At least seven people were wounded and seven arrested as clashes broke out at the Lion's Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Jerusalem, said that the mosque was being protected by worshippers who wanted to stop Jewish hardliners from entering the compound. "They are very keen that what happened in Hebron, where hardliners did in fact storm and take over a mosque there, doesn't happen here in this very holy site," she said
She said that there was a lot of tension in the city because of the standoff. "It could, of course, boil over if we hear of clashes between the police and those at the sit-in at the al-Aqsa compound," she said. Palestinian officials told Al Jazeera that Muslim worshippers entered the mosque late on Saturday to prevent a repeat of last Sunday's clashes in the area. In that incident, at least 13 Palestinians were injured and seven detained when fighting broke when Israeli Jews apparently attempted to enter the mosque.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of Palestinians, while stones, chairs and other objects were reportedly thrown. Israeli version Describing the latest clashes, Shmuel Ben-Ruby, the Israeli police spokesman for Jerusalem, said that about 150 demonstrators were dispersed from one area near the al-Aqsa compound on Sunday, but unrest was continuing in nearby East Jerusalem. He said some had thrown bottles and rocks.
Micky Rosenfeld, another Israeli police spokesman, confirmed that the compound had been "shut to visitors" this week.
He said that Israeli authorities had also detained Khatem Abdel Khader, an adviser to the Palestinian prime minister on Jerusalem affairs, on suspicion he was trying to incite protests at the site. Israeli security forces have said that the restrictions will stay in place until the Palestinian protesters turn themselves to authorities.
Israel captured and annexed the Old City with its holy sites, along with the rest of Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank, in the war of 1967. Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 Eighteen policemen and 17 Muslim worshippers were lightly injured in riots which erupted Sunday morning at the Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem. The police officers were wounded by stones hurled by rioters and were evacuated to the Shaare Zedek and Hadassah Ein Kerem hospitals in the capital. Eleven people were arrested on suspicion of hurling stones. Following the riots, the police prevented worshippers from entering the compound. The incident began when a group of tourists entered the Temple Mount compound accompanied by a police force. At a certain stage, some 150 worshippers started gathering around them and calling out towards them. Some of the worshippers began throwing stones at the group. The police force fired stun grenades in an attempt to gain control of the riot. Eighteen police officers were lightly injured by stones. Six of them received medical treatment on the site and the rest were evacuated to hospitals. Fifteen worshippers were injured by stones and two were lightly hurt by the stun grenades and were evacuated to the al-Maqasid Hospital in east Jerusalem. Adult worshippers attempted to calm things down, while the group of tourists was removed from the site. Several stone throwing incidents were recorded in the alleys of the Old City after the riot. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Many police officers were deployed in the area, and Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen arrived at the Temple Mount and held an evaluation of the situations with senior commanders.
The defense establishment has declared a heightened state of alert across the country ahead of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. On Saturday evening, a closure was imposed on the West Bank until Monday at midnight. Residents will only be allowed to cross into Israel in humanitarian cases. Read more here,,,,
 By Alan Caruba
On Monday, September 28, Jews around the world will celebrate Yom Kippur, fasting and seeking to begin the new lunar year with a clean slate. The holy day is traditionally celebrated after one has paid debts and sought forgiveness for any wrongs.
For the Israelis, in 1973, it included having to go to war after a sneak attack by Syria and Egypt.
It is not a coincidence that the Muslim month of Ramadan occurs during this same period. Muhammad borrowed a lot of Judaism, but he brought to his new religion some decidedly Arab traits and one of them was intolerance.
When a Jewish tribe residing in Arabia refused to acknowledge him as the prophet of Allah, he had all the men executed and the women and children sold into slavery.
When Muslims captured Jerusalem, Judaism’s and Christianity’s most holy city, they chose a site sacred to Jews to build a mosque, al Qud, on the Temple Mount. In Islamic mythology, it is the site where Mohammad ascended to Heaven to meet his fellow prophets after flying to Jerusalem in a dream. There is no indication he ever set foot in Israel, nor is Jerusalem even mentioned by name in the Koran. One of the reasons for the Crusades was to restore Jerusalem to its rightful owners.
In a fashion that Jews and Christians can never quite understand, Islam insists that it is the only religion that should be practiced on the planet. While it gives lip service to Judaism and Christianity because the two faiths have a holy book, it holds Hinduism, Buddhism, and other faiths in complete contempt for lack of a similar scripture.
Americans should pay attention when, on Friday, September 24, some in the American Islamic community hope to bring together up to 50,000 Muslims to surround the U.S. Capitol for Jummah prayer, otherwise known as their Sabbath, celebrated on Fridays, just as Jews do.
The Capitol celebration will be led by Sheikh Ahmed Dewider, a Manhattan cleric who reportedly once said that “through the domination of Islam and its ideas, the White House will change” and expressed the hope that someday the White House would become the Muslim House.
According to The New York Times, the main organizer of the event, Hassen Ibn Abedellah, was “the most aggressively combative of the lawyers” representing the terrorists who staged the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Abdellah has claimed that Zionists “control the government, the politics, the economy, and the media in the U.S.”
Thus, the Friday event will be led by men who are both anti-Semitic and who harbor dreams of turning America into a Muslim nation subject to Sharia, Islamic law.
Occupied elsewhere, President Obama will not be able to participate, but he was also too busy to participate in the National Day of Prayer, acknowledging it with a perfunctory proclamation. Busy as he is, he did host a White House dinner celebrating what he called “The Holy Month of Ramadan” and recently issued a proclamation at the end of Ramadan which concluded with an Arabic blessing.
I suggest Friday’s Capitol event is part of Islam’s endless jihad against all other faiths and reflects its ambitions for the United States of America.
Editor’s Note: Our thanks to the American Family Association for their contribution to this commentary.
 By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM - The Jewish Temples never existed and Israel has been working to "invent" a Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem, the chief Palestinian negotiator asserted.
Ahmed Qurei, the Palestinian Authority official leading all peace talks with the Jewish state, made the controversial statements in a small media briefing Wednesday attended by WND as well as by a Palestinian media outlet and an Arab affairs correspondent for a major Israeli newspaper.
But the Israeli publication decided not to print Qurei's comments, while the Palestinian publication, the Al-Ayam daily newspaper, made news of the remarks.
Qurei said "Israeli occupation authorities are trying to find a so-called Jewish historical connection" between Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, "but all these attempts will fail. The [Temple Mount] is 100 percent Muslim."
"The world must be mobilized against all these Israeli attempts to change the symbols and signs of Jerusalem," he said. "There is nothing Jewish about the Al Aqsa Mosque. There was no so-called Jewish Temple. It's imaginary. Jerusalem is 100 percent Muslim."
Continued Qurei: "The Arab world is called to interfere to stop the Israeli plans in Jerusalem, to stop the Israeli attempts to create a Jewish character to Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque. Also to the Old City, which is the first step in the war to defend Jerusalem and Al Aqsa.
"They are competing against time in order to create facts on ground in the surrounding the imaginary Temple," Qurei added.
The chief Palestinian negotiator was reacting to the reopening last month of a long-closed synagogue just 100 meters from the Temple Mount. The holy structure, located in what is now known as the Muslim Quarter, was abandoned in 1938 in the wake of extreme Arab violence targeting Jews. At the time, thousands of Jews lived in the Quarter. The synagogue is closer than any other Jewish house of prayer to the Temple Mount.
Qurei, who is considered moderate by U.S. and Israeli policy, has been leading talks with Israel initiated at last November's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis Summit, which seeks to create a Palestinian state, at least on paper, before President Bush leaves office. Israel is widely expected to offer the Palestinians near complete control of the West Bank and significant control of undisclosed parts of eastern Jerusalem.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. The First Jewish Temple was built there by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of over four centuries.
The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's shechina or "presence" dwelt. All Jewish holidays centered on worship at the Temple. The Jewish Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place for the Jewish people.
According to the Talmud, the world was created from the foundation stone of the Temple Mount. The site is believed to be the biblical Mount Moriah, the location where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac.
Jewish tradition holds Mashiach, or the Jewish Messiah, will return and rebuild the third and final Temple on the Mount in Jerusalem.
The Kotel, or Western Wall, is the one part of the Temple Mount that survived the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans and stands today in Jerusalem.
Throughout all notorious Jewish exiles, thorough documentation shows the Jews never gave up their hope of returning to Jerusalem and re-establishing their Temple. To this day, Jews worldwide pray facing the Western Wall, while Muslims turn their backs away from the Temple Mount and pray toward Mecca.
The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph.
About 100 years ago, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem became associated with the place Muslims came to believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. Jerusalem, however, is not mentioned in the Quran.
Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from "a sacred mosque" – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest mosque," and from a rock there ascended to heaven to receive revelations from Allah that became part of the Quran.
Palestinians today claim exclusivity over the Temple Mount, and Palestinian leaders routinely deny Jewish historic connection to the site, but historically, Muslims did not claim the Al Aqsa Mosque as their third holiest site and admitted the Jewish Temples existed.
According to research by Israeli author Shmuel Berkovits, Islam previously disregarded Jerusalem. He points out in his book "How Dreadful Is this Place!" that Muhammad was said to loathe Jerusalem and what it stood for. Berkovits wrote that Muhammad made a point of eliminating pagan sites of worship and sanctifying only one place – the Kaaba in Mecca – to signify the unity of God.
As late as the 14th century, Islamic scholar Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, whose writings influenced the Wahhabi movement in Arabia, ruled that sacred Islamic sites are to be found only in the Arabian Peninsula and that "in Jerusalem, there is not a place one calls sacred, and the same holds true for the tombs of Hebron."
It wasn't until the late 19th century – incidentally when Jews started immigrating to Palestine – that some Muslim scholars began claiming Muhammad tied his horse to the Western Wall and associated Muhammad's purported night journey with the Temple Mount. A guide to the Temple Mount by the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem published in 1925 listed the Mount as the site of Solomon's Temple. The Temple Institute acquired a copy of the official 1925 "Guide Book to Al-Haram Al-Sharif," which states on page 4, "Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord.'" Source: World Net Daily
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Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
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