Israel on Red Alert for Friday Muslim PrayersStarting Friday morning, Israeli policemen have spread out across East Jerusalem, bracing for possible violence after Muslims' Friday prayers, or even a possible suicide-bomb attack, Jerusalem police spokesman office said.The police especially boosted up its guard near a disputed shrine in the Old City of Jerusalem, which Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary and Jews refer to as the Temple Mount. Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the shrine on September 28 triggered the ongoing violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian demonstrators in the past four weeks. More than 130 have been killed and 4,000 wounded, most of them Palestinians. Israel police worried that after the weekly Friday prayers in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the mount, violence may erupt again and break the relative quiet in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past two days. Following that prayers there were violent outbreaks in the past weeks, which included stone throwing at the nearby Jewish Western Wall and the burning of a police outpost. Police sources said they will keep the policy to restrict Muslims from entering the compound, with the age restriction being 35 and up compared to 40 and older last week and 45 and up the week before. Moreover, Israeli sappers are also on red alert for possible suicide bombers after a Palestinian detonated the explosives he was carrying Thursday near an Israeli army outpost in Gaza, killing himself and wounding an Israeli soldier. The attack made Israelis fear because they had experienced a series of bombing attacks on their buses, markets and other public areas since 1990s. |
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