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Palestinians and Israeli Arabs Incited to "Protect Al-Aqsa Mosque from Passover Sacrifice"
(Ha'aretz) Nir Hasson - The intense clashes Friday morning on Jerusalem's Temple Mount were almost inevitable after rumors on social media that Jews were planning to come to the site and offer a Passover sacrifice spread like wildfire. Over the last few days, Israel has tried to broadcast to Palestinians that they have nothing to worry about. Indeed, Israeli police rushed to arrest several members of a fringe group that discussed such a move. But the rumors about this apparent threat to Al-Aqsa gained steam among many young Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. There were also those who worked to stoke the fears of the Palestinians. On Thursday night, dozens of buses with Arabs from Israel's north arrived in Jerusalem, apparently under the guidance of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement. By morning there were already thousands at the site, who began to chant and throw stones towards the Mughrabi Bridge, endangering Jewish worshippers below at the Western Wall. The police could have locked the young people in the mosque and left, but feared they would break out and throw stones at the Western Wall. Police were also concerned that the concentration of young people in the mosque would severely disrupt the Muslim noon prayer on Friday. So after several hours of skirmishes, police forces broke into the mosque and detained everyone inside - 470 people - nearly all of whom were later released. Police then withdrew from the mosque to allow Palestinians to clean it and prepare for noon prayers, which were attended by thousands of worshipers from the West Bank. There were no further violent incidents. This year, no Passover sacrifice was made on the Temple Mount, nor has there been one for 1,952 years.