Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., June 23, 2009 Tamuz 1, 5769 | | Israel Time: 21:13 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Travel Week's End Anglo File
Share |
Last update - 15:48 23/06/2009
Palestinians protest Aharanovitch visit to Temple Mount
By Reuters
Tags: Yitzhak Aharanovitz 

Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharanovitch paid a rare visit to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque on Tuesday, prompting condemnation from Palestinian religious leaders.

Aharonovitch, a member of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party, went to Islam's third holiest site to review police deployments in the flashpoint area, his spokesman said.

He said the visit was coordinated with Muslim authorities, a remark contradicted by the city's leading cleric.
Advertisement
During the 90-minute visit, Aharonovitch entered the mosque, which sits in a complex in the Old City known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount. The area also houses the gilded Dome of the Rock shrine.

Israel captured the site in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it with the rest of East Jerusalem, in a move not recognized internationally.

Visits to the compound by Israeli officials are rare and extremely sensitive.

"The intention of the visit was to see how the police would deploy in case of an emergency," Aharonovitch's spokesman Tal Harel said. He said the visit was coordinated with Muslim custodians of the site, known as the Waqf, or endowment.

"We went everywhere. We were accompanied by the Waqf, who were fully aware of our presence, and this was planned in coordination with them well ahead of the visit," Harel added.

The Palestinian-appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein, said the visit was not coordinated in advance.

"He does not have the right to visit al-Aqsa because it is an Islamic site and not a Jewish site, and it could ignite violence because the visit provokes the feelings of Muslims... It is an assault on an Islamic place," Hussein said.

It was Aharonovitch's first visit as minister.

Last week, Arab opposition members of Israel's parliament called for Aharonovitch to resign over comments he made during a meeting with police officers.

In television footage, the minister, responding to an undercover police agent who apologized for his dirty clothes, said with a laugh: "What do you mean dirty? You look like a real 'Araboosh'", a derogatory term for an Arab in Hebrew slang.

Aharonovitch apologized for the remark
PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
U.S. support for Israel
Poll: Most Americans think Palestinians must recognize Israel's right to exist.
Knesset scandal
How did one little cockroach bring the entire Knesset cafeteria to its knees?
  1.   It would be good if more Jews visit Temple Mount 16:19  |  Boris 23/06/09
  2.   Just as Israel is your so called birth right the mosque is our bo 16:56  |  Muslim 23/06/09
  3.   Time for Jews not to act like scared rabbits on Temple Mount 17:06  |  Kenny 23/06/09
  4.   Jewish history and Jerusalem is biblical.This area also holy to 17:22  |  peace 23/06/09
  5.   Too bad about that temple. Build a better one someplace else. 18:31  |  Natallie Durson 23/06/09
  6.   "Islam`s third holiest site" 19:01  |  Jon 23/06/09
  7.   Mohammed Hussein statement sounds araboosh 19:24  |  Joseph .E 23/06/09
  8.   `Araboosh` , Araboosh , Ara-Bush 19:27  |  Joseph .E 23/06/09
  9.   response to #2 20:17  |  bronxite10 23/06/09
  10.   #5, so you acknowledge the Jewish origin 21:00  |  Urani Diot 23/06/09
Special Offers
Advertisement
hotel Jerusalem
David Citadel Hotel, come stay at the finest of Jerusalem hotels.
ISRAEL ARMY SURPLUS STORE
IDF insignia,Uniforms, Paladium Boots Watches, Israel Army T-shirts & Collectibles
Dead Sea Skin Care
Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
More Headlines
20:40 Obama: World 'appalled' by Iran violence
14:51 Netanyahu: Settlements debate is a waste of time
18:51 Palestinian report: Shalit to be moved to Egypt; Israel: report unfounded
18:14 Israel: Iran's aggression makes it greatest threat to world peace
20:38 Poll: Most Americans think Palestinians must recognize Israel's right to exist
18:21 Barak authorizes construction of 300 new homes in West Bank
17:51 How did one cockroach bring the Knesset cafeteria to its knees?
22:56 Updated: Iran interactive - images and Tweets from the streets
20:58 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel
13:24 'Iran charges slain man's family $3,000 for bullets that killed him'
16:43 Iran accuses UN chief Ban Ki-moon of meddling
10:55 Olmert offered to withdraw from 93% of West Bank
15:48 Palestinians protest Aharanovitch visit to Temple Mount
16:38 Russia aims to host Middle East peace parley by end of 2009
12:44 Israel to release jailed Hamas parliament speaker
17:55 Australia Deputy PM: More honesty needed in Mideast peace talks
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Israel 2009 election results | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved