Tension enveloped Jerusalem on Tuesday after Israeli
military forces initiated threats of breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque
compound to force Muslim worshippers out.
The Israeli security
authorities ended the siege of "Al-Haram Al-Sharif," at dawn, after
Muslim worshippers refused to get out of the mosque, Palestinian
sources said.
The Israelis threatened to resume blocking the gates and the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque at a later time, the sources said.
Around
200 Palestinian worshippers have remained in the mosque since Saturday
to prevent radical Jews from storming Al-Haram Al-Sharif on the
occasion of a Jewish religious day, the sources added.
Meanwhile,
clashes erupted earlier today between the Israeli security personnel
and the Palestinian students where the forces used tear gas to disperse
them, the sources added.
The Palestinians warned blood would be spilled in case Al-Aqsa Mosque was raided.
Haaretz,
an Israeli daily, said 2,000 policemen were expected to be deployed in
Jerusalem to protect Jewish settlers as they planned a demonstration in
the old city. The Jewish activists would march through mainly Arab
suburbs.
The Israeli police said the demonstration would be staged and denied any change of its location.
Meanwhile,
the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom called for outlawing
the Islamic Movement in the territories of 1948 and to arrest head of
the northern branch of the Islamic Movement Sheikh Ra'ad Salah and his
deputy Sheikh kamal Al-Khateeb.
Shalom told Radio Israel the Islamic Movement is instigating the Arabs to control Jerusalem.
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