Islamic Movement has been mobilizing Arab youth to smuggle fire bombs, pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails and stones onto the Temple Mount to attack Jews ascending the site.

The youth themselves have used the Al-Aqsa Mosque as a staging base to attack Jews, drawing Israeli police forces close to the sensitive mosque compound and thus fueling the cycle of rumors of Israeli incursions into the mosque.

The Israeli police have been careful not to enter the mosque itself, even though the Palestinian instigators base their militant operations inside the site.

Look whose access is really limited

The Palestinian claim of Israeli plans to restrict Muslims from the Temple Mount is contrasted with the facts on the ground. Jews and Christians are actually barred from the mount during most hours of the day andare never allowed to pray at the site or carry holy objects.

Those rules, enforced by the Israeli police, are imposed by the real custodians of the Temple Mount, the Waqf, which is controlled jointly by the Palestinians and the Jordanians.

The Temple Mount was opened to the public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada, or “uprising,” by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area.

After the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Temple Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.

The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003.

It since has been open to non-Muslims only during certain hours, and not on any Christian, Jewish