Arab rioters in Jerusalem (file)
Arab rioters in Jerusalem (file)Flash 90

The anticipated Arab attacks near the Temple Mount at the end of Friday prayers did not disappoint, as Arab rioters hurled rocks at police forces at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City.

At the gate, located on the eastern end of the northern wall of the Old City, one Arab assailant was arrested in the act.

Police forces used non-lethal riot dispersal methods to break up the rioters, in a clash that was foreseen by police who beefed up their numbers to 5,000 officers in the capital for Friday and deployed surveillance blimps.

At nearly the same time as the clash on Friday, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee decided following a special morning meeting to take a rare move, and permit the IDF to call up reserve Border Patrol officers to secure Jerusalem.

Committee Chairman MK Tzahi Hanegbi (Likud) said "Border Patrol fighters have rich and successful experience dealing with hostile and violent activities. Placing Border Patrol units in the capital will help restore order quickly."

The clash on Friday comes after Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for violence at the Temple Mount against Jews, saying, "the Al-Aqsa (Mosque on the Mount - ed.) is ours...and they (Jews) have no right to defile it with their filthy feet."

In his comments Abbas lauded "martyrs" spilling blood in Jerusalem to prevent Jews from their holiest site, making his call for violence clear.

Police precautions in Jerusalem come in light of a steep rise in Arab terror in the capital over the last week in time for Rosh Hashanah, during which Arabs repeatedly attacked police on the Temple Mount - the holiest site in Judaism - in pre-planned riots with rocks and explosives.

Likewise, a lethal Arab rock attack claimed the life Alexander Levlovitz (64) of Jerusalem, who was murdered on the eve of Rosh Hashanah on Sunday after a rock hurled through his car's window made him lose control of the vehicle and crash.

Aside from increasing the police presence, Muslim access to the Mount was limited on Friday. Only men aged 40 and over, and women of all ages, were allowed in so as to weed out the young Islamists who repeatedly spark violence on the holy site.