TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Ezra: Mount rally is very problematic
By JPOST STAFF AND ETGAR LEFKOVITS

A scenario in which thousands of Jews plan to flood the Temple Mount is highly problematic and the police will not enable them to reach the site, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra said on Thursday.

Speaking with Army Radio, Ezra said that there are intelligence indications by which far right activists may carry out some sort of an attack on the mount. He did not specify whether the nature of the warnings was specific.

[...]

On Wednesday, Jerusalem police announced that the Temple Mount will be completely closed off to non-Muslim visitors on Sunday, the day of a major ultra-nationalist rally to the site.

Jerusalem police chief Ilan Franco had announced last week that he was barring a massive Jewish pilgrimage to the Temple Mount by a group of ultra-nationalists opposed to the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip following multiple intelligence warnings that such an event could prompt Palestinian violence at the bitterly contested holy site.

[...]

In response to the increasing threats at the site, the Internal Security Ministry recently decided to set up a state of the art security system of electronic sensors on the Temple Mount a cost of about NIS 100 million (US $23 million).

The sensors are to be installed around the walls of the mount and are designed to alert security forces in the event of an attempted entry in the area.

But the newly enhanced security plan is unlikely to go in effect before the planned Gaza pullout slated for July.

[...]

That's the first I've heard of a new security system. As for the planned protest, it gives us quite enough to worry about. But then there's this:

Islamic movement to mobilize tens of thousands to counter Jewish rally
By DAVID RUDGE (Jerusalem Post)

The Islamic Movement intends to mobilize tens of thousands of Israeli Arab Muslims from throughout the country to take part in a mass pilgrimage to the Aksa mosque in Jerusalem on Sunday to counter a planned demonstration by the Temple Mount faithful and those opposed to disengagement.

[...]

This is turning into a volatile mixture, and I hope very much that cool heads prevail on the day.

Ha'aretz covers the same story here.