JERUSALEM: Israeli police closed the doors to the Dome of the Rock, the golden dome mosque within al-Haram al-Sharif (the noble sanctuary) compound that also includes Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, and prevented Muslim worshippers from performing noon prayers inside it, according to officials of the Muslim Waqf department in charge of the mosque.
Muslim religious leaders attempted to no avail to persuade the Israeli police to move away from the gates to the/Dome of the Rock so that worshippers can enter freely.
As a result, Muslim officials called on all worshippers to gather at the Dome of the Rock in a show of defiance of the Israeli decision to close the Muslim holy mosque, considered the third holiest site in Islam.
Police closed the mosque after Muslim guards refused to allow an Israeli policeman to enter it with the Jewish kippah on his head fearing he was going to perform Jewish prayer inside it. The guards were holed up inside the Dome of the Rock with police waiting outside to arrest them.
Non-Muslims are allowed to visit the holy compound during certain hours of the day but are not allowed to perform any ritual or prayer inside it.
Fanatic Jewish groups have been pressing their government to change this situation by allowing Jewish prayer inside the Muslim compound.
Hundreds of Muslim worshippers who normally perform the noon prayers at the Dome of Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the two largest mosques inside the compound, converged on the Dome of Rock to force the police to reopen it.
A scuffle at one point broke out as police pushed religious men and worshippers away, hurting as a result the director of Al-Aqsa Mosque Omar Kiswani, according to the Waqf officials.
Officials said the situation was tense and warned of outbreak of violence if the police continue to close the Dome of the Rock and prevent prayers inside it.
COURTESY: English.wafa.ps
