An Israeli was killed and four were wounded in a shooting attack near the entrance to the mosque compound in the Old City. Jerusalem, this Sunday (21).
The victim was a 30-year-old man, and among the wounded were two police officers. Police killed the 42-year-old Palestinian attacker, who lives in East Jerusalem.
The Mosque Square is a sanctuary known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims at the Haram al-Sharif. On its outer wall is the Wailing Wall (see below).
Israeli security forces carry the body of a sniper on the stairs leading to the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on November 21, 2021 – Photo: Ammar Awad/Reuters
The mosque campus occupies 14 hectares in the elevated part of the Old City of Jerusalem, in the eastern part of the city, in the Palestinian sector occupied and annexed by Israel.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City and its Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy sites, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 war.
Most of the international community does not recognize the annexation of East Jerusalem, which the Arabs claim as the future capital of Palestine.
The site is called the Haram al-Sharif by Muslims and is home to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock rises above the place where the Prophet was to ascend to heaven.
The Haram is the third holiest site in Islam, after the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Citizens raise Hamas flags on May 7, 2021 in front of the Dome of the Rock in the mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem – Photo: Ammar Awad/Reuters
The Mosque Square, which Jews call Har Hebait (Temple Mount), is the holiest site in Judaism.
Most believers do not enter the place because the rabbinate prohibits them from entering, lest they come forward and desecrate the holy place.
Construction of the square began in the 7th century, after Caliph Omar captured Jerusalem, and it was built on the site where the Romans destroyed the synagogue in 70.
The only remains of the temple are the Wailing Wall, on the outer wall of the square.
Jews pray separately at the Western Wall in March 2020, at the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic after a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people was made in Israel – Photo: Mahmoud Ellin/Associated Press
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