Jerusalem police, fearing riots, will deploy a large force in the Temple Mount area Sunday after the Islamic Movement called on Arabs “to defend” the holy site. The Islamic Movement, whose leader Sheikh Raed Salah has frequently been charged with incitement to violence, distributed flyers on Saturday calling on Arabs “to protect the Temple Mount from Jewish conquest.” The flyers referred to Jews wanting to visit the Temple Mount as “far-right extremists.”
Similar calls preceded rock-throwing Arab rioters who attacked Jews at the Western Wall (Kotel) and in Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem earlier this month.
The official Hamas website told its readers, "The Aqsa Foundation for Awkaf and Heritage warned of new attempts by extremist Jews to desecrate the Aqsa Mosque on Sunday to commemorate what they call the 'Rambam ascent to the Temple Mount.'"
The Jewish Temple Mount Institute has called on Jews to attend a conference in Jerusalem on Sunday where it will urge Jews to ascend to the site, the holiest place Jewish site in the world.
Yehuda Glick, head of a group promoting the right of Jews to visit the Temple Mount, said that the conference is a reaction to the police department’s closure of the site to Jews during most of the Sukkot holiday after Muslim Arab riots. Temple Mount Institute director Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, other leading rabbis and at least three Knesset Members from the National Union and Kadima parties are expected to attend the meeting.