Close to 100,000 Moslems arrived at the Temple Mount today for Ramadan prayers - and there were hardly any clashes with police. The Jerusalem District police, with reinforcements from other districts, deployed over 2,000 police personnel in the capital on this, the first Friday of the Moslem month of Ramadan. Similar prayers last year ended in violent clashes, and the police announced this morning that it would act \"vigorously and assertively in order to foil any attempt by any elements whatsoever to disrupt prayers and public order or violate the law during the holiday.\"
In contrast with the 100,000 Moslems who ascended the Mount today, no Jews at all have been allowed to pray there for 14 months. A rally by a group of Jews in Jerusalem\'s Old City last night demanded that the government bring an immediate end to this discriminatory policy barring Jewish prayer from the Temple Mount, the holiest site to the Jewish people.
In contrast with the 100,000 Moslems who ascended the Mount today, no Jews at all have been allowed to pray there for 14 months. A rally by a group of Jews in Jerusalem\'s Old City last night demanded that the government bring an immediate end to this discriminatory policy barring Jewish prayer from the Temple Mount, the holiest site to the Jewish people.