JERUSALEM – Just hours before a mass event at the Temple Mount, expected by Israeli police to turn violent with concerns Jews may storm the Mount entrance and Muslims planning possible confrontations, WND has found the Mount ramp completely unprotected.
More than 3,500 officers have been patrolling the Old City, the walled portion of Jerusalem that houses the Temple Mount, the Al Aqsa Moqsue and the ancient quarters from the Temple period. Police reinforcements have been sent to Jerusalem from all over the country. Check points have been erected at entrances to the city, and a large police contingency has been stationed at the Western Wall since Friday.
Jewish access to the Temple Mount is banned through Monday.
Police hope to halt a plan by Revava, a Jewish organization with the stated mission of "restoring self-esteem to the state of Israel by restoring national pride and values," to bring 10,000 Jews to the heavily restricted Temple Mount Sunday to spark Israeli dialogue about reclaiming the holy site from its Islamic custodians.
Jewish ramp to Mount unprotected, 3 a.m. Jerusalem time Photo: WND |
But just five hours before the start of the Revava demonstration, at which some Jews are expected to charge onto the Temple Mount, WorldNetDaily found the ramp that leads from the Jewish section of the Western Wall onto the Mount completely unprotected. The ramp is the area at which the Revava rally will be assembled later today, and is the only entrance through which Jews can enter the Mount.
Although dozens of armed officers protected the Mount ramp Friday, no police officers were stationed there early Sunday morning.
WND was able to pass the police barricades protecting the ramp, and climb to the top – the area police announced is off limits.
"If the people expected to come to the rally knew the ramp was unprotected right now and knew they could get onto the Mount, a war would probably erupt," said David Grossman, an Israeli who passed by the ramp.
Several thousand Muslims in Egypt and Gaza protested last weekend against the planned Jewish ascent of the Mount, and senior police officials told WND they received intelligence Palestinian groups are planning violent confrontations with Jews who try to storm onto the Temple Mount this weekend.
The Islamic Movement, a group Israel accuses of recruiting suicide bombers for Hamas, is planning to bring several hundred members to the Al Aqsa mosque later today to "protect it" from Jews.
Dr. Hasan Sanallah, a member of the Islamic Movement, told WND in an exclusive interview last week, "We called upon our followers to show up in the Aqsa Mosque not for sleeping but to protect it from any kind of aggression that might be planned."
Palestinians have plastered mosques throughout the Temple Mount area with signs warning of the mass Jewish ascent. The signs, some of which were obtained by WND, read, ''The Jews, who have no historic claim to the [Temple Mount], are planning to storm our holy site on April 10. We must not allow this to happen.''
The signs, which have been repeatedly removed, do not detail what specific measures Palestinians should take against the Jewish event.
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