by Nadav Shragai, Ariel Kahana, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff
PM Netanyahu orders removal of recently installed equipment from the Gate of Mercy site on the Temple Mount
Arab-Israeli leaders at the Gate of Mercy site on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Monday Photo: Balad - Ra'am spokesperson
Tensions
continued to bubble Monday on the Temple Mount after the Gate of Mercy
structure near Al-Aqsa mosque was certified as another mosque, with
silent agreement from Israel – despite official denials issued by
Israeli authorities.
Government officials said Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu issued an order to remove equipment from the site and
disallow prayer there.
The structure was recently fitted with rugs
and other furnishings along with renovations. Eran Tzidkiyahu of the
Forum for Regional Thinking visited the site on Monday and assessed that
it would soon be used as a permanent prayer area for Muslims.
Meanwhile, the Islamic authority that
oversees Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, known as the waqf, announced it
has already appointed an imam for the Gate of Mercy structure and that
its status would be identical to other sites of worship on the Temple
Mount.
Israeli police on Sunday arrested the head
of waqf authority, Sheikh Abdelazeem Salhab, and other waqf leaders,
following violent protests last week on the Temple Mount. Salhab, who
was released shortly after his arrest and barred from the area for one
week, was appointed by neighboring Jordan.
From one mosque to five
If Israel does not act to reverse the
trend, the number of mosques at the Temple Mount compound will stand at
five. Some 52 years ago, immediately following the Six-Day War, there
was only one mosque, Al-Aqsa mosque. Over time, the Dome of the Rock was
also certified as a mosque and mostly serves Muslim women on Fridays.
In the 1990s, two other mosques were certified, but underground: the
Gate of Mercy area, which some Muslims in recent days have hailed as the
"fifth mosque," was shut down by Israel in 2005 after a Hamas-linked
group carried out activities there.
The new waqf leadership, comprising
officials from Fatah, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Muslim
Brotherhood, breached the site around two weeks ago, and last Friday
thousands of worshippers prayed there. The waqf leaders arrested by
Israel, as stated, were released a short while later on shaky legal
grounds, as the aforementioned Hamas-affiliated group that had operated
there, and which served as the pretext for shutting the site down, no
longer exists, and doubts emerged over the legality of the most recent
closure order.
'Strong resistance'
It should be noted that before 2005,
although the compound was controlled by the Muslims it didn't function
as a mosque and people normally didn't use it for worship.
Senior Arab-Israeli figures, among them the
head of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel,
former MK Mohammad Barakeh, together with representatives of the Balad
and Ra'am parties, visited the structure on Monday and met with waqf
leaders.
"It is the right of every Muslim to prayer
at Al-Aqsa mosque. The actions of the Israeli government to Judaize
Jerusalem and erode the status quo at Al-Aqsa will be met with strong
resistance," they threatened.
An Israeli government official said: "The
prime minister gave instructions to enforce the court's order without
compromise. The political echelon won't allow the site to become a
mosque. This directive was passed to the police and this message was
delivered to certain authorities and to Jordan as well. The prime
minister has instructed the public security minister [Gilad Erdan] to
remove the rugs and other equipment from the site."
Nadav Shragai, Ariel Kahana, Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/02/26/pm-there-wont-be-another-mosque-on-the-temple-mount/
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