3,000 Policemen Guarding Temple Mount

3,000 Policemen Guarding Temple Mount
by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) Police Chief Moshe Karadi has raised the alert level around the country to Level III, the second-highest. Jerusalem is of special concern, because of the Moslem rioting violence and threats regarding the construction of a ramp to the Temple Mount from the Western Wall plaza.

As a security precaution, entry to the Friday prayers at the Al-Aksa mosque are restricted more tightly than they have ever been, and only those aged 50 and older will be allowed in.

Three Arabs were arrested shortly before the noon-time prayers began when they tried to evade policemen and ascend to the Mount.

The walkway in question is the only passage by which Jews can enter the Temple Mount - the holiest site in Judaism, the location of the First and Second Holy Temples, and the place where the Binding of Isaac took place. The ramp was heavily damaged during a snowstorm three years ago, and is being replaced. Before the construction can take place, however, Israeli law requires that preparatory archaeological excavations take place to determine if important findings lie below.

Arab leaders have raised an uproar over the works, and have called for another intifada to "save the Al-Aqsa Mosque [on the Temple Mount]." This, despite the fact that the works are underway well outside the Temple Mount. Israeli-Arab Sheikh Raad Salah, who heads the northern branch of the radical Islamic Movement in Israel, was arrested and has been distanced from the Old City for the next two months. He is also charged with attacking policemen.

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