OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 9 November 2002 — Tens of thousands of Muslim faithful flocked peacefully to Jerusalem for the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan amid tight security, even as two Palestinians were shot dead in the West Bank. “At least 150,000 people were there but it has all been very quiet,” Israel police spokesman Gil Kleiman said about the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Only one person was arrested during the morning, an Israeli Jew wearing a traditional checkered Palestinian headdress who tried to get into the compound passing as a Muslim, Kleiman said. There were no age restrictions put on male worshipers going to the site, he said. Since the start of the intifada, Israel has often placed age restrictions on men going to the compound, barring those under the age of 40.
Increased police presence was visible yesterday morning in Israeli-annexed Arab East Jerusalem and in the city’s western, Jewish part. The road outside Jaffa Gate, one of seven entrances to Jerusalem’s Old City, had been closed to traffic.
On the ground, violence continued with the killing of a Palestinian near the West Bank town of Nablus as he was driving to the mosque. A passenger was also wounded in the shooting, which the army had no initial comment on. Earlier in the day, a Palestinian was killed in nearby Tulkarm.He was shot dead as the army entered the refugee camp to arrest him and he tried to escape.
On the political front, Israel has upgraded and improved its double-layer anti-ballistic missile defense system, based on the state-of-the-art Arrow interceptor, and says it is ready for any hostile missile attack coming from Iraq. “The Arrow will intercept any missile that will threaten Israel or the borders of Israel,” Brig. Gen. Yair Dori said. “Since 1991, we have built a huge active defense system that will give Israel the ability to survive and make civilians feel safe in the next conflict,” he said at a rare demonstration of the Arrow system on Thursday.
