Hussein said that the Jerusalem police allowed Palestinian
men over the age of 50 carrying Israeli identity card to enter the Muslims’
third holiest shrine for the prayer. He added that the women’s entry was not
limited. The Israeli police confirmed the move.
He added that the Israeli police arrested thirteen
Palestinian youths who tried to enter Jerusalem’s Old City.
Palestinian sources said that three residents of Arab
neighborhoods in East Jerusalem were arrested on suspicion of hurling stones at
Israeli Border Guard and police forces after the prayers. The clashes were
mainly centered around Silwan neighborhood.
Shmulik Ben Rubi, Jerusalem district police spokesman, said
that only 8,000 worshipers held prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He added that the restriction of worshipers’ entry into the
complex came to thwart any disturbances in the city which may break out in
support of Nakba Day which will be marked on Sunday. The Nakba means
“catastrophe” and it is the Palestinian term for Israel’s establishment. Israel
celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its creation on Tuesday, in accordance with
the Hebrew calendar.
Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said that the “the
situation was under complete control and everything is being done to keep it
so.”
“The police is prepared for any unusual event during the
coming weekend,” Danino said.
The Nakba is considered to be the biggest catastrophe for
Palestinians in modern history; the immediate consequences of the Nakba was the
occupation, by Israel, of more than three quarters of historic Palestine and
the expulsion of more than 85 percent of the population.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said
that more than 800,000 out of 1.4 million Palestinians, who were living in the
1948 territories, were driven out of their homeland to the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, neighboring Arab countries and other countries of the world. PCBS said
that they and their descendants number 4.8 million today.
Israeli governments have refused to allow the Palestinian
refugees to return to the 1948 territories for fear that a massive influx would
threaten the Jewish majority in Israel, which now counts some 5.8 million
Jewish citizens.
