Hundreds of police will deploy throughout Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday in response to intelligence warnings of Arab unrest during Muslim prayers at the Temple Mount. Palestinian Authority officials have been encouraging Muslims to flood the Temple Mount en masse to protest against the new Israeli government. “Settlers plan to storm Al-Aqsa,” claimed the Bethelehem-based Ma’an news agency on Thursday. The report added that “right-wing Israeli religious groups” had issued a call to “conquer and Judaize the holiest place on earth, which is being desecrated in such a disgraceful and shameful way.” According to Ma’an , the Islamic Movement called on Palestinian Authority Arabs to demonstrate at the Al-Aqsa compound and “defend it from Israeli attack.” The northern branch of the Islamic Movement has chartered dozens of buses to ferry Muslim worshippers to the site. The radical anti-Israel organization has also begun to spread its tentacles to the southern Bedouin communities. Green flags adorned with flowing Arabic letters proclaiming the Islamic Movement's slogan were prominent during municipal elections in northern Negev Bedouin towns a few months ago, particularly in Hura and Lakiyah. Israel Police have restricted entry to the site, allowing only male Muslim worshippers age 50 and older who possess Israeli ID cards, and women, in order to minimize the risk. The site is also considered the third holiest site in Islam and is the location of the Dome of the Rock, which protects a rock from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. Ma’an, linked to the PA, reported that the site is a “major symbol of Palestinian nationalism.” The Temple Mount, considered the holiest Jewish site on earth, is believed to be where the holy of holies was located within the ancient First and Second Temples. It is also the site upon which the patriarch Avraham prepared to sacrifice his son Yitzchak (Isaac). Access to the area, which was under the control of Jordan from 1948 to 1967, was completely cut off to Jews until Jerusalem was reunited in the Six-Day War. Although it is under the sovereignty of the State of Israel, control over the Temple Mount was given to the Muslim Waqf, and fiery anti-Israel sermons often emanate from the mosque during Friday prayers.
