Israel Limits Passage Of Arabs To Al-Aqsa Mosque In Old City Of Jerusalem

Only women and men over 25 will be allowed passage to the al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem for participation in the Friday namaz. Spokesmen for the Israeli police, which is imposing these limitations, stress that this step will be taken to thwart repetition of the week-long events. A week ago during the Friday namaz in al-Aqsa a group of Arab youths started to throw stones at the praying Jews at the Wailing Wall. Order was re-established in the Old City only after the police demanding Muslims to cancel the namaz and disperse were deployed to the Temple Mount. In this respect representatives of the Islamic spiritual leaders addressed Israeli citizens with a request to allow at least elderly people to stay at the mosque of al-Aqsa. The Muslims promised to take efforts to establish order. To thwart new clashes between Arabs and Jews intensified police patrols will be deployed both in the Old City streets and in adjoining districts.