TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:
Clashes Damage Al Aqsa Mosque at Jerusalem, and Jordan Warns Israel (DIAA HADID,
NYT).
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian youths and the Israeli police clashed again Tuesday at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and King Abdullah II of Jordan issued a rare warning to Israel that the fighting could weaken relations between the two countries.
Concerns are growing that the clashes over Jewish visits to the contested holy site, which began on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, could set off wider violence.
[...]
In Tuesday’s fighting, Palestinian youths, some masked, took up positions in Al Aqsa Mosque, where they had built barricades from wood and iron rods, and from the closets where worshipers leave their shoes before entering the holy site, said Luba Samri, an Israeli police spokeswoman.
Omar Kiswani, the director of Al Aqsa Mosque compound, said centuries-old woodwork, windows and doors had been damaged in the violence. “We are making calls for intervention,” Mr. Kiswani said. “We hope these problems won’t continue. We want quiet, to preserve the lives of the worshipers.”
The youths pelted police officers, who used sound grenades in an effort to quell the demonstrators. A small fire erupted on some of the wooden panels being used as barricades.
I've been watching this story for some time, but haven't posted on it. But damage to one of the ancient monuments on the site brings it into the area of PaleoJudaica's concerns. Not surprisingly, the cause of the damage is disputed:
Ms. Samri said the blaze was ignited by Palestinians who threw firecrackers. But a mosque official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared arrest, said Israeli forces were to blame because they fired stun grenades that burned holes in the mosque’s carpet and probably ignited a wooden panel.
I hope things settle down without any more harm to the site or anyone in the area.