The Shin Bet security service has raised the level of alert in Jerusalem amid indications that extremist Jews are planning to carry out an attack on the mosques of the Temple Mount, and on the basis of new intelligence has beefed up police and security around the site in the heart of the Old City.
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Channel One reported Wednesday night that these security concerns have been made known to the political echelon. The radical rightists apparently aim to attack the mosques in the hope that they will disrupt the implementation of the disengagement plan.
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A senior security source said recently that the mosques of the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram el Sharif, have become a "hot topic" among radicals, on the assumption that an attack on the mosques would shock the Muslim world, drag Israel into a new war and prevent the disengagement. The source defined the chances of the threat against the mount being actualized as greater than the threat to the prime minister's life, where the security risk remains stable at 6, largely because of the difficulty of protecting the mount.
Al-Ahram has the report of rampaging violence and harassment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza by extremist settlers:
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is calling on the international community, including the "Quartet" (the US, EU, Russia and the UN), to pressure Israel to put an end to nearly daily pogrom-like attacks by messianic Israeli terrorists on defenseless Palestinian villagers throughout the West Bank. Attacks have mushroomed recently as extremist Israeli settlers vow to commit acts of "unprecedented violence" to thwart Israel's planned "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip. "We urge the international community to intervene immediately to stop this unprovoked and unjustified aggression against our civilians," said Ahmed Subh, deputy minister of information in the PA.
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A spokesman for the Israeli army told the Weekly that responsibility for "keeping law and order" lied with the police, not the army. A high-ranking army officer admitted, however, that settlers were upping the ante in the West Bank. "The situation will only intensify. We see a trend of radicalisation in the actions of the extremists. Attacks against Palestinians have increased," he said. Palestinian official Subh is worried the worst is yet to come. "We are afraid that the Israeli government's inaction towards the settlers might embolden them to commit real massacres against our people."
If the Jewish extremists can't be contained, any hope for peace could be scuttled. It seems fundementalists of all denominations are undermining world peace, all in the name of God, Allah, or whoever they are worshipping these days. Religious freedom and tolerance also means not imposing your religion on others. Whatever happened to that concept?
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Last update - 11:13 07/04/2005
High alert amid warnings of Temple Mount attack
By Amos Harel and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
The Shin Bet security service has raised the level of alert in Jerusalem amid indications that extremist Jews are planning to carry out an attack on the mosques of the Temple Mount, and on the basis of new intelligence has beefed up police and security around the site in the heart of the Old City.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Movement's northern branch, which has made protection of the Al-Aqsa mosque the centerpiece of its activities, has called on Israeli Arab Muslims to flock to the Old City site to protect it from Jewish extremists.
Police on Wednesday announced plans to close the Temple Mount compound to Jews on Sunday, when a right-wing extremist group called Revava was planning to hold a mass rally there. Police fear the activists could clash with Muslim worshipers.
Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra and Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi have approved an operational plan meant to prevent Revava activists from holding the event. Police will prevent Jews from ascending to the mount Sunday, and will work to prevent any friction between Jews and Muslims in the Old City's alleys.
Jerusalem's police chief, Ilan Franco, announced several days ago that Revava activists would not be allowed to enter the Temple Mount compound. The statement came after reports in the Arab media expressed dismay at Israeli authorities' intentions to grant the right-wing activists permission to approach the compound, revered as holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
Channel One reported Wednesday night that these security concerns have been made known to the political echelon. The radical rightists apparently aim to attack the mosques in the hope that they will disrupt the implementation of the disengagement plan.
The secret service created a ranking from 1-10 with 10 being the highest security risk. Three months ago, the Shin Bet was ranking the security threat at 7, meaning that "there are signs of planning for an attack," and that there are activists "talking about what to do and as soon as possible." Now, however, the ranking has moved to an 8 - and it is based on much more solid information.
Security sources confirmed that there is information about several groups of extremists, though it is not certain to what extent they are in contact with one another. Lately there has been some progress made in the inquiry, but a gag order has been slapped on its details.
A senior security source said recently that the mosques of the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram el Sharif, have become a "hot topic" among radicals, on the assumption that an attack on the mosques would shock the Muslim world, drag Israel into a new war and prevent the disengagement. The source defined the chances of the threat against the mount being actualized as greater than the threat to the prime minister's life, where the security risk remains stable at 6, largely because of the difficulty of protecting the mount.
In response to the Revava plans, the Al-Aqsa Association of the Islamic Movement's northern branch has called on its followers several times in the past few days to remain at the mosque around the clock. The association said that in light of the threats to the mosque by Jewish extremists, it calls on Muslims in Israel to go to the Haram el Sharif and hold all five daily Muslim prayers there and stay there. And it called on East Jerusalem Muslims to go to Al-Aqsa instead of their neighborhood mosques. The association said Wednesday that it is sending buses full of believers daily to Jerusalem and that it intends to pick up the pace ahead of Sunday.
MK Abdel Malik Dehamshe, of the United Arab List, wrote to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this week asking him to do whatever is necessary to protect the mosques. "I emphasize that in light of the tangible danger to the mosques in Jerusalem, unusual steps must be taken," the MK wrote.
The northern branch of the Islamic Movement has been very active over the past several years in dealing with the Al-Aqsa mosque. Israeli Arabs have much more freedom of movement than West Bankers and Gazans, which enables them to pray in large numbers on the mount every Friday and Saturday. In the announcement issued Wednesday, the association emphasized that people were being called upon to only hold prayers on the mount.
3 comments:
You do realize that you're quoting a left-wing Israeli paper, and one of the official newspapers of the Egyptian government don't you? They're not exactly going to be balanced sources of information.
The issue of withdrawing from Gaza and any of the West Bank settlements is quite a bit more complicated than you're making it out to be. It will do absolutely nothing to bring peace to the region. All it will do is further weaken Israel's ability to defend herself, and further convince the Palestinians that terrorism works.
The Palestinians have done nothing to earn this withdrawal. It's a completely unilateral move on the part of the Israelis which is not being reciprocated in any way.
All that will happen is terrorism emanating from Gaza and whatever towns in the West Bank are handed over will increase, and Israel will need to go back into Gaza and those West Bank towns again. And many lives will be needlessly lost in the process, because in no way are the Palestinians ready for or desirous of peace.
These days the only way to balence information is read every source. Everyone has an axe to grind. I read from lots of sources and hope I end up with a balenced view.
I realize the withdrawl is not about peace, its about minimizing exposure and casualties. Gaza is the perfect place for a quagmire. But it may serve peace as well. Hamas has gained a lot politically from the move. And they have been inticed into considering joining an election process. That is good news for everyone and may lead to a reason for Hamas to put down their arms. I give Abu Masen credit for this coup, it was brilliantly done. I prefer to be optimistic about the prospects. The situation has been getting steadily worse for years. I care about both sides of this conflict. What ultimately will happen, only time will tell.
I would no more claim all Palestinians aren't ready or interested in peace than I would say all Israelis aren't ready or interested in peace. Certainly there are Palestinians and Israelis on both sides of the issue.
Polls done by Palestinian pollsters consistently show that more than 70%, and sometimes even up around 90% of Palestinians have no desire to live in Palestinian state side by side peaceably with Israel. The Palestinian Authority's own charter still states that one of their goals is to annhilate Israel. They were required under Oslo to change this, but they never have. But, what would it really matter anyway since changing it would just be a lie. The PA official media continues to broadcast and print anti-Israeli propaganda of a repulsive nature. We're supposed to have confidence in the new head of the PA Mahmoud Abbas when his own charter says the goal of his organization is to wipe out Israel, and his own media, which is completely under his control, keeps inciting Palestinians to kill Jews?
The terrorist group Hamas did very well in local elections. This is far from a good sign as you mention. What it confirms is the tremdous support for anti-Israeli terrorism amongst the Palestinians. It was not a coup that Abbas deserves credit for as you say. It had nothing to do with Abbas, and Abbas would certainly prefer Hamas to not be competing with his Fatah Party. Hamas has never said anything meaningful that would indicate that they're giving up terrorism, and they are as likely to give up terrorism as Al Qaeda would be.
Pulling out of Gaza, Tulkarm, Jericho etc is not about "minimizing exposure and causalties", it's about showing again for the zillionith time that Israel is serious about peace. Unfortunately, the majority of Palestinians recently polled said that it shows that terrorism works. They believe that Israel has been driven out of these areas, which is not the case at all. So not only is Israel making a move that will significantly worsen their security situation, but the move is completely being misunderstood by the Palestinians. In other words, Israel is getting absolutely nothing for the move other than more casualties.
Abbas is building an army as we speak. He has taken Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Tanzim, al Aqsa etc. terrorists into the official PA security forces. He is smuggling weapons in from across the Egyptian border. He even has the balls to ask Israel for weapons claiming a strong PA security force is in Israel's interest. There will be another Intifada, only this time it's going to far worse for Israel than before because of these withdrawals. It's a disaster waiting to happen, and the US is going to be largely responsible since they've been pushing Sharon to do these things which make no strategic sense.
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