Local heads of churches paid a solidarity visit to Muslim clerics and leaders Saturday after Friday’s clashes on the Temple Mount after prayer. The Muslims said that Israeli soldiers stormed the Haram al Sharif, throwing sound grenades and using tear gas to force those gathered to leave.
Saturday’s discussion centered around what to do to keep holy sites protected, respected and accessible to all who wish to pray there. According to Muslim leaders, they have been in discussion for 3 years about this reconstruction of the Mugrabi gate area because it was was so sensitive. They believe there are tiles from the Umayyad Dynasty underneath, and they wanted to ensure that everything was preserved properly.
For Palestinians, Muslim and Christian, this is one more example of a unilateral action that disrespects them and their rights, and is unnecessarily provocative at a time fraught with tension over Palestinian infighting and possible new beginnings of the new unity government.