The Palestinian Authority declared \"victory\" yesterday in having succeeding in \"thwarting an Israeli plan to conquer the Temple Mount.\" The official PA announcement congratulated the populace for defending the site, and praised the youngsters who barricaded themselves inside the Dome of the Rock for several hours and \"left the site without harm to their bodies or honor, as they made sure that the Israeli police forces left before they did.\"
The culturally-left Shinui party condemns the behavior of the Arab MKs at the Temple Mount yesterday. Several policemen and many more Arabs were wounded during yesterday\'s violence there, which began when Moslems on the Mount threw rocks towards the Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall below. Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy afterwards blamed the MKs for inciting the Arab masses to violence against Israelis. The Shinui Party council, which convened last night in Tel Aviv, faulted the MKs for fanning the flames of violence. Similarly, MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) filed a complaint this morning with the Ashkelon Police against MKs Tibi and Dahamshe. He accuses them of incitement and endangering human life.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites, said that the police \"failed\" when it was forced to evacuate the Jewish worshipers from the Western Wall, \"and precisely on Tisha B\'Av [the day of mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temples].\" He questioned whether there was more that could have been done to avoid the evacuation, and said that all the relevant bodies heard the shouts of \"Allahu Akbar\" and knew of the unrest stirring on the Temple Mount, \"but for some reason they decided to wait outside the Temple Mount until the rocks started flying.\" In the event, the police stormed into the Temple Mount, blasting open a locked gate in the process. National Religious Party head Rabbi Yitzchak Levy called yesterday\'s events at the Mount and the Wall a \"national disgrace.\" He said that the Arab strategy is to drive a wedge between the Jewish People and the Temple Mount.
The culturally-left Shinui party condemns the behavior of the Arab MKs at the Temple Mount yesterday. Several policemen and many more Arabs were wounded during yesterday\'s violence there, which began when Moslems on the Mount threw rocks towards the Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall below. Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy afterwards blamed the MKs for inciting the Arab masses to violence against Israelis. The Shinui Party council, which convened last night in Tel Aviv, faulted the MKs for fanning the flames of violence. Similarly, MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) filed a complaint this morning with the Ashkelon Police against MKs Tibi and Dahamshe. He accuses them of incitement and endangering human life.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites, said that the police \"failed\" when it was forced to evacuate the Jewish worshipers from the Western Wall, \"and precisely on Tisha B\'Av [the day of mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temples].\" He questioned whether there was more that could have been done to avoid the evacuation, and said that all the relevant bodies heard the shouts of \"Allahu Akbar\" and knew of the unrest stirring on the Temple Mount, \"but for some reason they decided to wait outside the Temple Mount until the rocks started flying.\" In the event, the police stormed into the Temple Mount, blasting open a locked gate in the process. National Religious Party head Rabbi Yitzchak Levy called yesterday\'s events at the Mount and the Wall a \"national disgrace.\" He said that the Arab strategy is to drive a wedge between the Jewish People and the Temple Mount.