This article comes from Times of Israel and it contains a lot of interesting information relating to current conditions on the Temple Mount. Apparently the Temple Mount is yet another powder-keg waiting to ignite:
Early on Friday evenings, they meet at the Temple Mount — a group of worshipers who differ from the others in appearance, and especially ideology. The group consists of 50-70 men who sit or stand together and listen to lectures on the Koran in the square outside Al-Aqsa Mosque.
These are not the Hamas supporters seen often at the compound, known to Muslims as Haram a-Sharif, nor are they members of the Kharkat al-Tahrir movement (despite their similar attire and ideology). They are, rather, members of the Salafi movement who believe in imitating the ways of the Prophet Muhammad and his immediate followers, and they are becoming an almost permanent presence on the Temple Mount.
While these are not terrorists like members of the Al-Salafiya Al-Jihadiya organization, who operate today in many Middle Eastern countries and recently in the West Bank as well, their presence at Al-Aqsa is not a comforting sight, particularly given the increasing hostilities between Jews and Muslims at this acutely sensitive and contested spot.
Last Sunday, the Jerusalem District Police was forced to close the Temple Mount when a group of Jews visited the site during the hours designated for non-Muslim visitors and began to sing Hanukkah songs. Dozens of Muslims, including Islamic extremists (not necessarily the Salafis) who are permanent fixtures on the mount, attacked the Jewish group as dozens of police officers tried to disperse the violent confrontation. Four worshipers — Jewish and Muslim — were arrested.
On Wednesday, the compound was closed to visitors and worshipers once again after fireworks were shot at police from the Al-Aqsa Mosque.There was more, minor, trouble after prayers on Friday.
Combined with other incidents on the Temple Mount over recent weeks, this seems to be just the beginning.
The Temple Mount/Haram a-Sharif has always been a source of conflict and contention between Israel and the Palestinians. Violence has erupted here many times, the most infamous recent incident occurring on September 28-29, 2000. What began with opposition chairman Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount, deteriorated the following day into the opening confrontations of the Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada. When afternoon prayers ended on Friday, September 29, Muslim worshipers began to riot and throw stones at the Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall below, wounding Jerusalem Police Chief, Major General Yair Yitzhaki. A special unit of the Israel Border Police was ordered to force its way on to the Temple Mount using live fire if necessary. Seven Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded, triggering clashes and violence throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
Since then, the Jerusalem District Police has learned its lesson, now restricting Muslims under a certain age from entering for Friday prayers on sensitive occasions. Nevertheless, radical Muslim groups use the site to regularly incite against Israel, and skilled provocateurs from the other side use it as a political podium.
And there are plenty of both — extreme right-wing Israelis who try to light a Hanukkah menorah in the Al-Aqsa Mosque or establish a synagogue at the site, and Islamic activists, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians who fight to “save Al-Aqsa” from the Jews. They often seem to sustain one another in what appear to be efforts to trigger a holy war.
One of the most active groups on the Temple Mount in recent months is known as Al-Shabab Al-Aqsa. This group of young men is most often recruited by members of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement (lead by Sheikh Raed Salah) in order to “protect Al-Aqsa.” This means physically preventing Jews from attempting to pray on the Temple Mount or to cause damage to the site. These activists are Arabs from Israel and East Jerusalem who are paid for each “shift” that they work.
Alongside them is the “Women’s Corps,” with the same assignment. These women are generally poor, divorced or widows and are recruited by the Islamic Movement, which pays their salaries and organizes their transportation to the mount. These provocateurs occasionally shout insults and “Allah Akhbar” at non-Muslim visitors, but usually just stand guard.
Activists affiliated with Hamas can often be found on the mount as well. After the June 2013 coup in Egypt, Hamas supporters hung posters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi on the Temple Mount, drawing harsh criticism for using the Al-Aqsa Mosque for political purposes — despite the fact that every known Palestinian movement uses Haram a-Sharif for political gain. This includes Islamic Jihad and Kharkat al-Tahrir.
And recently, the Salafis have appeared as well. These are not terrorists like the three Al-Salafiya Al-Jihadiya activists killed two weeks ago by Israeli Special Forces in Hebron. The Salafis are an ultra-religious group that calls upon the Islamic world to return to its roots. They have lived and operated in Gaza and the West Bank for hundreds of years. The problem is that in recent years, more and more Salafi activists have joined terrorist groups that operate from places such as Sinai and Syria.
The Hebron incident was the first armed confrontation between members of the militant denomination and Israeli security forces, but it may not be the last. Just last week, Palestinian security forces reported that they arrested dozens of military activists affiliated with Al-Salafiya Al-Jihadiya.
Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, director of the Waqf in East Jerusalem and at Al-Aqsa, charges that Israeli “radicalism” is “ruining everything.”
In an interview this week, he described a recent Sunday when, he said, a group of 26 Orthodox Jews visited the Temple Mount and “even attacked your own soldiers,” and he warned: “If a fire erupts here, it will ignite the entire world.”
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