Announcing that they were keeping the Temple Mount compound closed to visitors and restricting entrance to Muslim worshipers, police on Sunday evening said they were "taking no chances" regarding the possibility of further disturbances in and around Jerusalem's Old City on Monday, as tens of thousands of Jewish worshipers are expected to throng the Western Wall Plaza and its surroundings for the twice-yearly Birkat Hakohanim, or priestly blessing service.
"A large police presence, which will continue with patrols throughout the alleyway's of the Old City and surrounding east Jerusalem neighborhoods, will be felt on Monday, as our forces continue to ensure the ongoing calm that presided over the area by Sunday afternoon remains that way," a police spokesman said. "We're taking no chances."
The announcement came after clashes between police and some 150 Muslims outside Herod's Gate early on Sunday morning, in which the men began throwing rocks and bottles at officers after they were informed that the Temple Mount compound had been closed for security reasons.
Two officers were lightly wounded and three rioters were arrested, while border policemen closed off roads around the Old City and rioters moved into the Wadi Joz neighborhood to its north, where residents briefly joined in the disturbances, but were soon dispersed. RELATEDEast Jerusalem marred by Yom Kippur violenceUS warns citizens: Avoid Old City on SuccotCritical Currents: Shaping a common civil spaceJerusalem united!Video: Palestinians clash with police on Temple Mount
The decision to close the Temple Mount came after rumors of a "Jewish takeover" of the compound circulated throughout east Jerusalem over the weekend and calls were issued for Muslim men to "come and defend" the mount.
"Based on that information, and other concrete indications we received that led us to believe large-scale disturbances were possible, the decision was made to completely close off the Temple Mount sometime in the early hours of morning," a police spokesman said. That closure was later scaled-back to allow all females and men over the age of 50 entry to the compound, provided they have the blue Israeli ID cards held by Israelis and nearly all Jerusalem residents.
Heeding the calls, more than 100 young men from east Jerusalem are believed to have made their way into the compound over the weekend. They refused to leave throughout most of Sunday afternoon, although police said they left in the early evening without incident.
Senior Fatah official Hatem Abdul Qadar was arrested on suspicion of inciting the riots, but was later released on NIS 10,000 bail, on the condition that he refrain from entering the Old City and that he remain at least 250 meters from its gates for 15 days.
Qadar served in the past as the Palestinian Authority's minister for Jerusalem affairs, after previously acting as PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad's adviser on Jerusalem affairs.
Many of the rioters involved in Sunday morning's disturbances are thought to have traveled to the capital from the country's north, and the deputy leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel's northern branch, Sheikh Kamal Khatib, was also arrested, and later released, on the condition that he refrain from entering Jerusalem for 15 days.
Jordan on Sunday evening rebuked Israel for the clashes earlier in the day and expressed dismay at Jerusalem's decision to restrict entry to the Temple Mount on Monday.
Israel's ambassador in Amman, Yaakov Rosen, was summoned for a meeting with the head of Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh's bureau. Rosen was handed a letter demanding that Israel immediately stop the "disturbances" in east Jerusalem and at the Aksa Mosque.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said that in the meeting, Rosen stressed that Israel has been handling the situation responsibly, responding with restraint despite the violent provocation by hostile Muslim groups.
Rosen explained that Israel acted legally, and that the clashes in the Old City would not have erupted had the Muslims not incited violence.
Judeh also sent a letter of protest to the ambassadors of the five permanent member-states of the UN Security Council, in which he called on the council to pressure Israel over the matter.
The clashes, which came two days after the US State Department called on its citizens to avoid the entirety of the Old City over Succot, continued to flare up in the afternoon, with firebombs reportedly thrown at Border Police officers in the southeast Silwan neighborhood and near the checkpoint leading into the Shuafat refugee camp in the capital's northeast. No injuries or damage were reported in those incidents.
Nonetheless, all was calm in and around the Old City by evening, police reported, but tensions remained high as tens of thousands of Jewish worshipers were expected to converge on the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter, as the priestly blessing will be recited by hundreds of Kohanim on Monday morning.
Still, a police spokesman underscored that despite the unrest in the Muslim Quarter and scattered violence throughout east Jerusalem, Succot festivities in the Jewish Quarter had gone off without a hitch on Sunday, and in light of a beefed-up presence by security forces on Monday, he expected no change to occur in the ongoing calm there.
Last week, shortly before Yom Kippur, disturbances flared up across east Jerusalem, beginning when 18 policemen and 15 rioters were hurt in clashes on the Temple Mount, and later elsewhere in the Old City.
Police said some 150 Muslims participated in last week's disturbance on the Temple Mount, which began when a group of Jewish visitors entered the compound with a police escort.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.
