ISRAELI POLICE DETAIN WOMAN, 2 YOUNG MEN FROM AQSA COMPOUND

Al-Quds (Jerusalem), 10 Jumadil Akhir 1436/30 March 2015 (MINA) – Israeli police detained a Palestinian woman and two young men at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday after physically assaulting a group of Muslim worshipers, witnesses said.

Witnesses told Ma’an that tensions rose during a verbal exchange between Israeli police and a group of Palestinians who were gathering at the compound’s Chain Gate.

Witnesses said that police officers severely beat two young Palestinian men before arresting them, along with a woman identified as Samiha Shahin, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Israeli forces reportedly led the detainees to the Chain Gate police station for interrogation.

An Israeli police spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

The Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque.

The third holiest site in Islam, it is also venerated as Judaism’s most holy place as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Following Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has maintained an agreement with the Islamic trust that controls the Al-Aqsa compound not to allow non-Muslim prayer in the area. Jewish prayer is allowed at the neighboring Western Wall.

Israeli forces regularly escort Jewish visitors to Al-Aqsa, however, leading to tension with Palestinian worshipers. (T/P10/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)