Jerusalem police kill Palestinian suspected of shooting Temple Mount activist
Jerusalem tensions over Old City likely to be stoked by death of Palestinian believed to have tried to assassinate hardline Jewish campaigner
Israeli police yesterday shot and killed a Palestinian man suspected of an assassination attempt of a hardline Jewish activist in Jerusalem, threatening to further enflame the already high tensions in the city.
Jerusalem has seen near-daily clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police, particularly around the contested Temple Mount/Holy Sanctuary site in the Old City that is holy to both Jews and Muslims.
Yesterday, Israel closed the site to both fearing an escalation in violence - an unusual move which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman called "a declaration of war on the Palestinian people."
The man then opened fire at point-blank range, shot Glick three times and fled the scene.
Glick, an American-born activist and a well-known advocate for greater Jewish access to the site, remained in hospital and in serious condition yesterday.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said officers surrounded the suspect's home in east Jerusalem early yesterday. He opened fire and troops responded and killed the man. He was identified as Moatez Higazi, an Islamic militant recently released from prison.
The Jerusalem holy site has been a flashpoint for violence in recent months and has been fraught lately with clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police.
Israel maintains that it allows free prayer to all, but Palestinians claim it is unilaterally widening access to accommodate larger numbers of Jewish worshippers.
The Palestinians see this as Jewish encroachment on the site, the holiest in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam, while Jewish activists like Glick say they are being discriminated against by limiting their chances to pray atop the mount.
Israel accuses Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas of inciting the violence. Abbas has recently called for Jews to be banned from the site and urged Palestinians to guard the compound from visiting Jews, whom he called a "herd of cattle".
Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said: "The assassination attempt of Yehuda Glick is another serious step in the Palestinian incitement against Jews and against the state of Israel. When Abu Mazen [Abbas] spreads lies and venom about the rights of Jews to worship in their land, the result is terror, as we saw yesterday."
The violence erupted in earnest over the summer after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed by Palestinians in the West Bank. Jewish extremists retaliated by kidnapping and burning to death a Palestinian teenager in east Jerusalem, sparking violent riots. The unrest continued throughout the summer with the 50-day Gaza war.
