Jerusalem Braces for Palestinian “Day of Rage”
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury…” (Psalm 2:1-12)
Palestinian youth clash with Israeli police in the Abu Tor neighborhood near the house of the Palestinian man, suspected of the attempted murder of Yehuda Glick, Temple Mount Movement Leader, last night in Jerusalem. The East Jerusalem resident was killed by counter-terrorism officers who arrived at the suspect’s house and attempted to arrest him when they came under fire. Glick, who leads a movement which strives to bring the Temple Mount to Jewish hands, remains in the hospital in serious but stable condition. October 30, 2014. (Photo: Hadas Parush/ Flash90)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party has called for a “Day of Rage” on Friday across Jerusalem.
Fatah has called on Palestinians across the capital to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known as the Temple Mount.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA first reported the announcement on Thursday. “Fatah calls to its fighters and to the masses of the Palestinian people to aid the Al-Aqsa Mosque and occupied Jerusalem,” the announcement stated.
The Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commission also “called to set tomorrow [Friday] as a day of rage throughout the homeland and in countries which are home to refugees, to express the Palestinian people’s opposition to any attack on the holy place and foremost among them the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The statement also added that Palestinians must “consider desecration of Al-Aqsa as a declaration of a religious war against the Palestinian people and the Arab Islamic nations.”
The violent call to action was made after Israeli security officials closed the Temple Mount to Jews and Muslim on Thursday, following an attempted assassination by an Islamic Jihad terrorist of a prominent Temple Mount activist, Rabbi Yehuda Glick.
Glick, who campaigns for Jewish access to the Temple Mount, was shot several times in the chest and stomach. He underwent emergency surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and is expected to recover.
The shooter, Mu’taz Hijazi, fled the scene on his motorcycle. He was later killed in a gunfight with police early Thursday morning in the Abu Tor neighborhood. Hijazi was buried late Thursday night in the Muslim cemetery outside the Old City of Jerusalem.
Fatah published a poster on its official Facebook page praising Hijazi as a martyr. Adnan Gaith, the head of Fatah in Jerusalem, called Hijazi’s killing “terrorism.”
In response to Fatah’s call for violence, police are on high alert across Jerusalem for a renewal of violence that has rocked the capital for the last several weeks.
Access to the Temple Mount was opened but restricted. Men under the age of 50 would be barred from the site. Some 3,000 additional police and Border Patrol officers have been deployed across Jerusalem since Thursday morning. This is in addition to 1,000 officers who were sent to Jerusalem earlier this week.
Police presence will be bolstered in and around the Old City and near the Western Wall.
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