by Taylor Luck | Apr 11,2012 | JORDAN TIMES
OCCUPPIED JERUSALEM/AMMAN — Minor scuffles broke out between worshippers and Israeli settlers on Wednesday as the latest in rising tensions at the third holiest site in Islam during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
According to site custodians, some one dozen worshippers and one site employee were injured in their attempt to prevent multiple forced entries of Israeli extremists intending to carry out religious rituals near Al Aqsa Mosque.
“Several people were injured when groups of settlers attempted to storm the Bab Al Majlis and Bab Al Magharbeh gates to carry out Jewish religious rites at Al Aqsa,” Maher Qaisi, head guard at Al Haram Al Sharif, told The Jordan Times.
Qaisi pointed to the ease with which Israeli activists entered Al Haram Al Sharif at multiple entrances as a sign of what site officials claim as ongoing collaboration between Israeli security forces and hardline “extremists”.
“If the occupation forces can prevent the entry of hundreds of Palestinian and Muslim worshippers, why can’t they prevent a handful of extremist Israelis?” Qaisi asked.
Wednesday marked the latest in a series of escalations during the Jewish holiday of Passover, which site custodians claim has led to the influx of hundreds of Jewish worshipers into Al Haram Al Sharif each day, with the number of forced entries under the protection of Israeli security forces reaching “unprecedented levels”.
According to Azzam Khatib, director of the Jerusalem Awqaf Department, the forced entries of Jewish Israeli citizens into the Noble Sanctuary has reached an average of 50 per hour over the past week, with over 600 activists infiltrating the site since the start of the Jewish holiday last Friday.
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