However, carefully reading the Arab news media, none of them were able to point to anything that the Israelis actually did that upset the Temple Mount's status quo. All news accounts showed that the Jewish (or foreign) visitors did nothing disrespectful and that the fighting began when Arab worshipers attacked the visitors after being whipped up with rumors from the previous week that extremist Jews were planning to "storm" the Al Aqsa Mosque. As Ma'an reported initially:
On Thursday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation had warned of an impending incursion. Officials in Jerusalem said extremists were preparing to break into the holy Muslim area, and accurately predicted that the break-in would occur on Sunday under the pretext of celebrating a religious holiday.Ma'an later changed the story but even now it is clear that the violence was started by the Arabs:
Confrontations erupted after groups of Israelis broke into the compound, reportedly under the guard of Israeli police. Palestinians hurled stones, chairs, and shoes at the Israelis, while police tried to disperse the Palestinians by force, injuring nine people right away, and four more throughout the morning.
According to witnesses, clashes broke out after a group of about 150 Israeli settlers entered the Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday morning, reportedly under the guard of local authorities who also escorted the group away from the area when worshipers began to protest.It turns out though that Khalid Amayreh, an Arab journalist who has a long history of insane hate against Israel, specifically lied about what happened at the time - to the Islamic world as a whole, at Islamonline.net:
Dozens of Palestinians were hurt, two seriously, on Sunday, September 27, when crack Israeli policemen attacked worshipers who had just repulsed an attempt by Jewish extremists to hold Talmudic rituals at al-Haram al-Sharif.Amayreh, using the time honored journalistic method of finding an "eyewitness" willing to lie to fit his agenda, helped stoke the hatred throughout the Muslim world.“When the zealots were repulsed rather peacefully, the police became very outraged,” Mahmoud Abu Atta, an eyewitness, told IslamOnline.net.
“As many as 70 policemen attacked us indiscriminately, young and old, with full force, using rubber-coated bullets, truncheons, tear gas and even poisonous gas.”
Eyewitnesses said tension began when dozens of Jewish religious zealots, disguised as tourists, stealthily entered Aqsa esplanade through its western gate, known as Bab el-Majles.
The intruders soon began, under police protection, performing Talmudic rites and making slogans calling for the destruction of the Islamic holy shrine.
Muslim guards as well as ordinary worshipers chased the Jewish zealots out.
“The police chased worshipers inside Aqsa Mosque, where the soldiers fired heavily into the holy place, causing many people to suffocate as a result of gas inhalation,” said Atta.
“I saw the police gang up on young people, beating them mercilessly. The police were not out to maintain law and order. They just wanted to retaliate and punish us for repulsing the fanatical settlers.”
Atta said the worshipers sought desperately to defend themselves against police brutality, using little stones, shoes and chairs.
“Hence it is the responsibility of the entire Umma to protect and safeguard this holy place from Zionist plots and evil designs,” Sheikh Sabri told IOL.
Israeli religious leaders, including Knesset members, are making no secret of their schemes regarding Al-Aqsa.
He, and other Islam Online reporters, regularly expose dastardly Zionist schemes to destroy Al Aqsa, doing everything they can to push Arabs to violence.
Amayreh followed up with a "man in the street" interview specifically asking Arabs if they want to see a third intifada in the face of these Zionist plots to have Jews visit their holiest site:
"There is no question that we need a huge uprising in order to extricate ourselves out of the present predicament.Amayreh is also very much against the PA, moderate Arab governments and any peace with Israel, so he makes sure that the seemingly random interviewees adhere to his own politics and radicalism."We need an intifada not only in occupied Palestine but all over the Arab world. We need an intifada against the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian Authority and the corrupt Arab regimes."
"In physics, excessive pressure leads to explosion or implosion. I think the frustration level in occupied Palestine has reached the explosive point."
"I think a religious intifada can be expected if Israel continues to provoke Muslims as it has been doing of late.
"If the cause of Al-Aqsa Mosque won’t provoke Muslims, then what would provoke them?
"However, we need more than just a willingness to die as martyrs for Al-Aqsa. We also need to carefully plan the outcome of any prospective intifada. We must carefully and thoroughly study the first two intifadas and make sure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes."
"I think if Israel goes too far in its efforts to take over parts of Al-Aqsa Mosque, an intifada, even a big one, will be inevitable.
"After all, Muslims, especially Palestinians, wouldn’t just sit idle while their holiest place is desecrated and raped by the herds of Zionism.
"But, let me be frank about his. The Palestinians alone can’t defeat Israel. We need to have meaningful and tangible Arab-Muslim support in order to be able to wrest our rights from Israeli hands."
In short, Khalid Amayreh is waging a campaign to start a new wave of terror against Israel under guise of his being a "journalist."