Displaying items by tag: no more mosques
Israel: no more mosques on Temple Mount
Tensions bubble on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount after the ‘Gate of Mercy’ structure near the Al-Aqsa mosque was certified as another mosque. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued an order to remove equipment from the site and disallow prayer there. The structure was recently fitted with rugs and other furnishings and renovations for it to be used as a permanent Muslim prayer area. The Waqf, which oversees Muslim holy sites, comprises officials from Fatah, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Waqf breached the site two weeks ago and has appointed an imam for the ‘Gate of Mercy’ structure. Israeli police arrested its head and other leaders, following violent protests last week on the Temple Mount, but released them a short time later. After the Six-Day War there was just one mosque on the mount: if the trend continues there will soon be five mosques there. Before 2005 the compound didn’t function as a mosque, and people normally didn’t use it for worship.