Jerusalem Mosque guards evict Jewish zealots from shrine

Guards of the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem Tuesday chased Jewish extremists out of the compound after they stormed the plaza early Tuesday and tried to hold prayers at the shrine, Islam's third holiest site.

Al Aqsa Foundation for Waqf (Islamic endowment) and Heritage said in a statement that the guards were able to evict a group of Jewish settlers from Al Aqsa amid tensions, and also prevented other extremist Jews from entering the compound from the Chain Gate in Jerusalem's walled Old City.

The Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem said earlier that its guards and crews stood on the ready to ward off any attempt by settlers and ultraorthodox Jews to raid the flashpoint site and hold Talmud rituals inside the mosque's grounds during the Jewish Passover, adding that several such attempts had been thwarted in the last days of the festival.

Groups of settlers and ultra religious Jewish groups, escorted by Israeli troops and paramilitary police, raid the shrine in daily provocations that keep Muslim worshippers and guards on a knife edge.

Source ; Petra