JERUSALEM, 7 June 2005 — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged yesterday that Israel would forever retain sovereignty over Jerusalem, in a speech to mark the 38th anniversary of the capture of the eastern part of the holy city.
“Jerusalem is ours for eternity and will never pass into foreign hands,” said Sharon.
The prime minister was speaking at a ceremony on Ammunition Hill, a one-time bastion of the Jordanian Army which was captured by Israeli paratroopers during the 1967 War.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem after the conflict, passing a law in 1980 which declared the whole city as its undivided capital, but the move was not recognized by the international community.
The Palestinians want to have the capital of their promised future state in East Jerusalem.
Yesterday Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, hurling stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Palestinian worshippers who clashed with Jewish visitors. Some 3,000 police were deployed to prevent possible clashes on Jerusalem Day, which Israelis mark with marches and speeches. With tensions running high, a confrontation erupted in the morning as several Jewish visitors toured the Al-Aqsa compound, accompanied by police. Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said hundreds of Palestinians clashed with the visitors and their police guards. Additional forces stormed the walled compound, throwing stun grenades to disperse the crowd, Ben-Ruby said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Jews should not have been allowed into the mosque compound. “The Israeli government and the international community must stop these unjustified and dangerous violations. They are to prevent any friction with bad results,” he said during a tour of a high school in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
