Not so…
"Why can’t people of all faiths visit the Temple Mount?
And how did the seond intifada start from Sharon’s visit on the 28th?
here’s a history of violence:
ARAB VIOLENCE BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 13 – 27, 2000
SEPTEMBER 27, 2000
1. One Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed and another was wounded moderately by a terrorist attack near Netzarim in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night, HA’ARETZ reported. Sergeant David Biri, age 19 from Jerusalem, was in critical condition on Wednesday and was pronounced dead in Be’er Sheva today from fatal head wounds.
As a convoy of three civilian vehicles escorted by two military vehicles reached the Netzarim junction, three roadside bombs were detonated in rapid succession. The wounded soldiers were flown by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva.
This incident marked the fourth time this year that roadside bombs have been used against the IDF around Netzarim. The IDF and the Israel Security Agency believe that Hamas may have masterminded the attack, but did not rule out the possibility that Palestinian Authority police were involved.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2000
1. Four firebombs were thrown at an IDF patrol at the Netzarim Junction this morning. No-one was injured but the army sent additional troops to the area in order to quell any further violence that may erupt.
Shortly after the firebomb attack, there were several incidents of stonethrowing at Israeli vehicles travelling along the route between Netzarim and the Karni crossing point.
2. Two unarmed Palestinian plainclothes policemen in pursuit of a suspected Palestinian criminal burst into the Beit Romano compound in the Jewish quarter of Hebron this afternoon. The Palestinian policemen shoved several of the IDF soldiers stationed there before being detained. The two, and the suspect they were pursuing, were later turned over to Palestinian authorities. A protest has been filed over the incident.
3. According to YEDIOT AHARONOT ON-LINE, the IDF has decided to suspend the joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols in the Netzarim area because Palestinian police refuse to help Israeli border police disperse protesters and sometimes even intervene on behalf of the protesters. The extent of the involvement of the Palestinian police is now under investigation.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2000
1. In the two separate attacks last weekend, two Jewish residents of Neveh Ya’acov were stabbed and lightly to moderately wounded. In the first attack, last Friday night, a woman, 50, was stabbed while talking on a public phone on the neighborhood’s main street. The following night a man, 50, was stabbed as he waited for a bus.
SEPTEMBER 19, 2000
1. Some 250 Palestinian trucks were held up at the Karni Checkpoint in Gaza when the residents of the Gush Katif town of Netzarim blocked the roads two hours this morning. HaKol MeHashetach News Agency reports that the residents were responding to the wave of Arab rock-throwing on their cars in recent days.
2. Lebanese citizens attempted to disrupt fruit-harvesting activities in Israel this morning,when they threw stones at a group of foreign workers in the orchards of northern Metullah. The security coordinator of Metullah, Amir Shushani, was lightly injured.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2000
1. Dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have been released over the past few days from Palestinian Authority prisons for “extended vacations.” Among the terrorists benefiting from the PA largesse are those who were involved in major attacks against Israelis, such as the bus bombings of early 1996. Israeli security sources said that the revolving-door policy has “come to life.”
SEPTEMBER 17, 2000
1. Two Jews have been stabbed in the northern Jerusalem suburb of N’vei Yaakov over the past two days. Shlomo Chaiditov, 50, who was attacked last night, is in serious but stable condition in Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital. A woman was stabbed in the same location the night before, and was injured lightly. In both cases, the attacker fled to the nearby Arab village.
2. Arab rock-throwing at the Netzarim junction in Gush Katif, Gaza, has become a popular sport among Palestinian youth. Hundreds of boys of all ages participated in the latest incident today, and one IDF soldier was hit in the head. Israeli troops responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, and the army closed the Karni Checkpoint and did not allow Palestinians to cross into pre-1967 Israel. The road to Netzarim was also closed for several hours today. Palestinian soldiers stationed outside Netzarim did nothing to stop the attacks.
3. Meanwhile, the religious Kibbutz Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion has been the target of three shooting attacks over the past month.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2000
1. Close to 100,000 Israeli-Arabs are expected today in Um el-Fahm - the largest Arab city in Israel, located south of the Galilee, midway between Hadera and Afula - for an Islamic Movement show of strength. The title of the rally: “El Aksa [mosque, on the Temple Mount] is in danger.” Violence is not expected, but hundreds of policemen will be there “just in case.”
2. The police decided yesterday not to uproot thousands of olive trees that the Arabs planted illegally near Nazareth Illit - the Jewish city adjacent to the Israeli-Arab city of Nazareth. The decision was made, apparently by Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, in order not to exacerbate tensions between the Arabs and Israeli authorities.
3. Arab MK Abdel Malek Dahamshe, who called this week to break the bones of policemen who come to raze illegal Arab buildings, continued similar incitement this morning.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2000
1. Yesterday, Attorney General Rubenstein approved the opening of a police investigation against MK Muhammad Barakeh, following his call to Israeli-Arabs to use violence against policemen to prevent the demolition of illegal houses
2. The IDF Spokesman announced yesterday that there has been an increase in rock-throwing incidents at Israeli vehicles on the Netzarim road in the Gaza Strip over the past two weeks, and that the Palestinian Police have not dealt with the incidents, in opposition to the agreements. The IDF has sent a strong message to the Palestinian Police that the IDF will act with an “iron fist” to quell the violence if the PA does not take action against the rock-throwers.
3. Serious damage to orchards is being caused by unrelenting stone throwing from Lebanon into Israeli territory close to the Fatma Gate in Metullah. Eyal Jacobson, owner of an apple orchard opposite Fatma Gate, complains that thousands of tons of fruit are being left to rot as he and his workers are constantly forced to interrupt their work.
4. Shots were fired yesterday towards Kokhav Yaakov, a community 10 minutes north of Jerusalem. One of the community’s caravans sustained slight damage.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2000
1. The Palestinian Authority is reneging on its commitment to accommodate Israeli repair and restoration work at damaged structures in the Joseph’s Tomb compound in Nablus. Israeli requests to the PA on this matter have yet to show results.
2. The Israeli police have recently dismantled two nationalist cells run by Arab Israelis whose activities have cost three lives, the commander of the northern police district told journalists here on Tuesday.
All 24 members of the cells were arrested and arms and ammunition were seized, said police chief Alek Ron.
“The members of the cells bought weapons and practised using them.They collaborated with Palestinians (from the Palestinian territories), threw stones at police vehicles and Israeli civilians and set fire to the houses of Arabs whom they suspected of working with Israel,” Ron said.
“These fires caused the deaths of three of these `collaborators’ with Israel,” he said.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2000
A Palestine Media Watch (PMW) report reviewed official Palestine Broadcasting Corporation TV in July, August and early September, and opened with the following prophetic sentence:
“Broadcasts of violence and hate reached unprecedented levels this summer on Palestinian television, to a point where the atmosphere is one of the eve of outbreak of war.”
The report gives examples: of broadcasts of old and new footage, showing clashes between Palestinians and Israelis, which grew from a daily standard of 15 minutes to 30 minutes, 45 minutes or one hour. The stridency of religious sermons against Israel and the Jews grew - reflecting, in PMW’s analysis, a convergence of views between the Palestinian Authority-employed clergy and Hamas. "
