Imagine That: "Jewifying" the Temple Mount

1. Last night's report:

Police to restrict entry to Temple Mount over fear of violent protests

Jerusalem Police on Wednesday announced they will limit the number of worshippers entering the Temple Mount for Muslim prayers on Thursday due to fears of disturbances, Army Radio reported.

Hundreds of police and Border Patrol officers will be deployed to East Jerusalem to prevent violence, and entry to the Temple Mount will be restricted to men over age 50 holding Israeli ID cards and women.

Police said they received intelligence warnings about thousands of Palestinians being called to protest at the site. They claim Jewish worshippers, encouraged by the Israeli government, planned to go up on the mount.

The Islamic Movement's northern branch has arranged dozens of buses to bring Muslims protesters to the area.

2. This morning:

MK Tibi: Jewish pyromaniacs should be barred from entering Temple Mount

MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) arrived at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Thursday and criticized the police's decision to ban Muslim worshippers under the age of 50 to enter the site for fear of riots. Tibi said, "This decisions harms freedom of worship, and it is actually the entrance of the rightist pyromaniacs that should be banned – not the entrance of Muslims."

The decision to ban worshippers under the age of 50 came after the Islamic Movement's call on Muslims to pray at the Temple Mount in protest of similar calls from rightist organizations for Jews to pray at the site.

3. What's actually happening:

Police prevent entrance of Jews, Muslims under 50 to Temple Mount

Some 150 members of the Islamic Movement gathered near the Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Thursday morning and protested against rightist organizations' calls for Jews to pray at the Temple Mount.

Policed restricted the entrance to the complex for fear of riots, but the Jewish right-wing activists who vowed to flock to the holy site did not show up, and the demonstration concluded without incident.

"This decision harms freedom of worship, and it is actually the entrance of the rightist pyromaniacs that should be banned – not the entrance of Muslims," [Tibi] said.

"The Al-Aqsa Mosque is in our blood; we will never abandon it," said Sheikh Kamal Hatib, vice-chairman of the Islamic Movement. However, members of the Islamic Movement said they would keep the peace at the site throughout the day so long as Jewish worshippers are denied access to it.

4. And this addendum:

The demonstrators also protested police restrictions on the entrance of Muslim worshipers to the Temple Mount, calling the move an attempt to "Jewify" the compound.

Spokesman for the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Zahi Najidat, said that the aim of the demonstration was to prevent "radical right-wing groups" from "gaining control" of the Temple Mount, Army Radio reported.