Arab incitement, which the Palestinian Authority is committed to eradicate in order to restart talks on a PA state, surfaced again Monday morning with the charge that a “settler”, armed with a machine gun, planned to massacre Arabs on the Temple Mount.
Muslim authorities caught a 28-year-old man in the pre-dawn hours Sunday and turned him over to police. Police say the man is apparently deranged and they sent him to a psychiatric hospital for further examination. Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the man was unarmed and was wandering around the Temple Mount area.
However, the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency, closely associated with the Palestinian Authority, quoted "eyewitnesses" that “a machine gun was strapped to the man’s back.” It added that Muslim guards believed he "intended to commit a massacre against worshippers at dawn prayers."
Contradicting police statements that the man was not armed, Maan quoted an unnamed guard as saying, "Settlers never wander the Old City unarmed.” Jerusalem police did not state where the arrested man lives and whether or not he is a resident of Judea and Samaria.
Adnan al-Husseini, the Arab official responsible for eastern Jerusalem, admitted that the man may have been mentally unstable but speculated he may have been associated with a group plotting against the al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.
The PA and Hamas often describe their terrorists as mentally ill, but PA official Hatem Adbul Kadar told Maan that Israel is guilty of applying a “double standard" by immediately labeling Arab attackers as terrorists. He charged that classifying Jewish “aggressors” as mentally disturbed encourages “settlers and extremists to continue with terror against Palestinians and holy places.”
The incident Sunday morning occurred less than a month after Muslim violence and incitement on the Temple Mount and areas of eastern Jerusalem persuaded police to close the holy site to Jews for several days while limiting entry to Arabs to men over the age of 50 and to all women.
Police quelled more riots last week and re-imposed the closure to Jews following continued Arab incitement that Jews are planning to take over the Temple Mount.
The High Court last month agreed with Jewish petitioners that police policy discriminates against Jews and instructed the police to draw up new guidelines concerning Jews who want to ascent to the Temple Mount. The new guidelines have yet to be put into force.