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Bekijk Volledige Versie : Toeristen mogen weer de tempelberg op tegen wil van Al-Waqf



lennart
30-06-03, 23:34
Police letting Jews visit Temple Mount, without Waqf consent

By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

Israeli police in recent days have begun to allow
non-Muslim members of the public to enter the
Temple Mount grounds in the Old City of Jerusalem,
under police escort, despite the fact that the
Muslim Religious Trust (Waqf) has not agreed to
the move.

In the Knesset plenum about two
weeks ago, Interior Security
Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said
that Jews would soon be allowed
on the Temple Mount, "even if
no agreement is reached with
the Waqf."

After consulting with Shin Bet
Security Service chief Avi

Dichter and Jerusalem District Police
commander, Major General Mickey Levy on the
subject, Hanegbi recommended to Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon that the Mount be opened to
non-Muslim visitors. Sharon, who visited the
Temple Mount in the fall of 2001, an event some
cite as the catalyst for the outbreak of the
intifada, and subsequently closed the site to
Jews, said that he prefers that the renewal of
visits by Jews to the site be done with the
consent of the Waqf.

Last week, Labor MK Colette Avital revealed that
Israeli police did not wait for the prime
minister and the Waqf to reach an agreement.
Police officers stationed at the Western Wall
began to escort groups of tourists on visits to
the grounds of the mosques at the site.
Commander of the police station at the Western
Wall, Officer Yossi Ben Haim, even approached
tourists in the Old City and lobbied them to
join the organized visit to the sensitive
site.

Although preparations for visits by non-Muslims
to the Temple Mount were being made for several
days, Waqf Director Adnan Husseini only heard
for the first time on Monday that Israeli
Police were violating the quiet understanding,
according to which the site would be open only
to Muslims until calm is restored in the
territories. Husseini called the decision a
grave violation of trust by Israel.

In a letter to Hanegbi, Avital requests to know
whether the police action is meant to prove
that "the Temple Mount is ours" or to create a
provocation. Minister Hanegbi's office said
that it had no knowledge of the police actions
on the Temple Mount and that they were not
connected to Hanegbi's comments in the Knesset
on the renewal of Jewish visits.

Jerusalem District Police Spokesman Shmuel
Ben-Ruby said that for the last two months the
police at the Western Wall station have been
accompanying groups of tourists visiting the
Temple Mount. He added that occasionally, "to
avoid very small groups, the police propose to
the tourists that they join the group visiting
the mount." He said everything is done with
approval of senior district officers.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/313098.html

Wat een timing zeg :rolleyes: