Israeli police allowed 50 right-wing settlers to tour the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday afternoon without a police escort.Amazing how Ma'an can tell that these people are all "settlers."
Ma’an’s correspondent in Jerusalem reports that the settlers entered the compound during a time slot reserved for foreign tourists.
Palestinians who were in the compound at the time said that they found the settlers’ tour “provocative.” They said that Israeli police stationed at the entrance refused to remove the settlers when this was requested by Palestinians.
Palestine Press Agency says that the Israelis "stormed" the Al Aqsa compound, as did Palestine Today.
Of course, the big concern is not that they would riot, or shoot, or throw stones at Muslim worshipers. No, the big concern is that they might start to - gasp - pray! Prayer scares the Palestinian Arabs far more than tanks.
It is a good sign that the Israeli police didn't discriminate against religious visitors to the Temple Mount today, as they always do. Yet that behavior is rarely reported as discriminatory, even as thousands of visitors stream to the Temple Mount daily and only the religious Jews are stopped and severely limited in what they can do.