The Palestinian Authority says it believes Israel may have been the firebombing attack on its own police station at the Temple Mount on Tuesday, as part of a plot to spark a confrontation that would create a pretext for closing the site to Muslim worshipers.
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The office of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement Tuesday afternoon condemning the “dangerous Israeli escalation in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque” – a reference to the entire span of the Temple Mount compound – and calling on the international community to urgently intervene to force Israel to reopen the site after an Arab terror attack earlier in the day on the Israel Police station in the compound.
Abbas said through his office he has been in touch with “relevant parties, including Jordan” to “pressure the occupation’s government to halt this dangerous escalation.”
The Ramallah government subsequently issued a separate statement via the official WAFA news agency saying police prevented a call for prayer from the Al Aqsa Mosque, and “attacked Palestinians who gathered” outside one of the main gates of the Temple Mount compound, ostensibly to perform the evening prayer.”
All of the entrances to the Temple Mount were ordered closed following the attack to enable police to search for weapons.
“People have been holding prayers since noon today outside the gates to the Mosque compound after police had attacked worshipers inside it, and pushed them out before closing its gates and preventing freedom of worship inside it, alleging that people had set fire to a police station inside the compound,” the WAFA news agency wrote.
“Palestinians have contested the Israeli fire allegation, some stressing that the fire could have been started by the police themselves or their agents to use as a pretext for closing the Muslim compound as part of a plot to force the closing of Bab al-Rahma prayer area, which police has (sic) been trying to do for over three weeks.” (italics added for emphasis – ed.)
The news agency quoted the Palestinian Red Crescent society as saying it transported four people to hospital with injuries “from beating” and said “police attacked its crews at Bab al-Asbat and prevented them from being in the area.”