Israel Matzav

'Palestinians' preplanned 'spontaneous' riots on Temple Mount

There is an eerie familiarity to this story - so much so that my friend who posted the video you will see below on LiveLeak posted it with a story from the 2000 intifada. But the story happened this week - today in fact.

As I mentioned earlier, the 'Palestinian Authority' has ordered riots on the Temple Mount in order to distract attention from its withdrawal of a motion at the United Nations 'Human Rights Council' that would have referred the Goldstone Report to the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council and to the International Criminal Court. That process has now been pushed off by at least six months.

Along with the riots, the 'Palestinians' are trying to convince the world that Israel has nefarious plans on the Temple Mount and to 'Judaize' Jerusalem generally. Those plans include things like 'planting' evidence that the Holy Temples existed on the Temple Mount, as if such evidence even needs to be planted. To that end, the 'Palestinian Authority' has invented an assault by 'extremist Jewish settlers' on the Temple Mount that supposedly took place last Sunday, the eve of Yom Kippur.

Fayyad's description of last Sunday's events bears no resemblance to Israel's version. According to senior Israeli officials, members of a right-wing Jewish organization did indeed declare their intent to ascend the mount on the morning of September 27, but police prevented them from even entering the Temple Mount compound.

Shortly thereafter, however, a group of French tourists - most of them Christians - came to the mount for a previously arranged tour, and hundreds of Palestinian worshipers, who had apparently been awaiting the right-wing activists, began hurling stones at them. Police responded with tear gas, and in the ensuing clashes, 30 people were wounded - half of them policemen and half Palestinians.

Nevertheless, Fayyad's plea drew a swift response from the United States and many EU countries, all of which demanded explanations of last Sunday's events from Israeli officials.

The United States was satisfied by Israel's explanation and dropped the matter. However, several European countries - headed by Sweden, whose relationship with Israel has also been deteriorating - sent worried messages demanding that Israel work to calm the situation.

The tensions reached a peak last Tuesday, when the Palestinians told several foreign embassies that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intended to accompany right-wing activists to the East Jerusalem village of Silwan to dedicate a new tunnel.

In fact, Netanyahu was merely planning to treat his senior aides to dinner at a nearby restaurant - an event that was ultimately canceled due to a heavy work load. Nevertheless, both American officials in Washington and the U.S. Embassy in Israel contacted the Prime Minister's Office to demand explanations for the alleged tunnel dedication, while senior officials in Sweden's Foreign Ministry demanded similar explanations of Israel's ambassador in Stockholm.

On Sunday, there was 'spontaneous' stone throwing by 'Palestinians' on the Temple Mount, and as a result, the Temple Mount was closed. But it turns out that Sunday's stone throwing was anything but spontaneous. Like the outbreak of the 'al-Aqsa intifada' in 2000, which started with a planned 'Palestinian' riot on the Temple Mount, Sunday's events were planned - apparently by our 'peace partner,' the 'Palestinian Authority.'

Police revealed Monday that officers had discovered wheelbarrows filled with bricks and heavy rocks on the Temple Mount on Sunday. The rocks were apparently prepared by Muslims who planned to use them against police and Jewish worshippers in case of a riot.

The discovery was one of the factors that led to the closure of the Temple Mount to Jews and to limited entrance to Muslim worshippers, police said.

Another factor was ongoing incitement from Muslim leaders, several of whom have accused Israeli Jews of planning to harm the Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount. On Sunday and Monday, Muslim leaders in Jerusalem and around the country called on young Muslims to “come and protect Al-Aksa.”

The call to protect the mosque from alleged Zionist plots spread quickly, and on Monday thousands of Muslims in Gaza, Judea and Samaria took part in solidarity rallies calling to protect Muslim control of the Temple Mount compound.

Between the incitement and the prepared rocks, police came to believe that rioters were planning more trouble, and that previous riots were not merely a spontaneous response to the presence of religious Jews on the Temple Mount, as Muslim worshippers had previously claimed.

Israel's Channel 2 News reported the police evidence on Monday evening's news broadcasts.

Let's go to the videotape. Sorry, but I only have the broadcast in Hebrew right now, but you all know what stones look like.



Are the 'Palestinians' trying to start another 'intifada'? Earlier today, I blogged a report that claimed it's unlikely that another 'intifada' will start right now. But circumstances can always change. And while another 'intifada' currently appears unlikely, if another 'intifada' has a chance of uniting the 'Palestinians' behind Abu Mazen, I am sure he will try to foment one.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:11 PM