“A premeditated provocation by the minister” were the words used by Jerusalem Waqf Authority director Sheikh Azzam al-Ahmed to describe Tuesday’s Har HaBayis visit by Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch.

Responding in an explanatory and apologetic tone, aides to the minister explained the visit was to permit the minister to get a first-hand look at security arrangements and it was planned with advanced notice to Waqf officials. Accompanying the minister was Israel Police Chief Dudi Cohen.

Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco and other senior commanders showed the minister the security arrangements in place on the Mount, as well in the al-Aqsa Mosque and other buildings which they entered during the visit.

Waqf officials deny reports that the visit was arranged in advance, adding reports that a Waqf official accompanied the minister’s entourage are untrue.

Kamil Khatib, the deputy head of the northern branch of the Israel Islamic Association, a government-approved charity, stated the Temple Mount belongs only to the Muslim people, no one else. “Jews do not have a right to even a centimeter on the Mount”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)