Israel Restricts Access to Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israel on Monday curbed travel from the West Bank and access to Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound as Jews began to celebrate Passover holidays amid raised tension with the Palestinians.

Four Israeli rightwing activists were briefly detained when they tried to make their way to the Old City in annexed east Jerusalem with two goats intended for ritual slaughter, police said.

A Passover animal sacrifice near the mosque compound in the Old City would likely have been perceived by Muslims as a challenge to the tense status quo of the site and could have sparked unrest.'

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Israel's Total Judaization Plan Continues

Israeli decision to re-open a synagogue in Jerusalem al-Quds, close to al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, has irked Palestinians as Israel deploys hundreds of police to the city.

As the re-opening of the synagogue is scheduled for Monday, Israel has deployed hundreds of police around the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds amid fears of fresh unrest.

Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said police were prepared to prevent disturbances for the next 24 hours after, as he says, they "have received clear indications that Palestinians are intending to cause disturbances and riots" there.

As a precautionary measure, Israel has barred Arab men under the age of 50 from entering the al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, Islam's third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Israel also maintained a closure that barred virtually all West Bank Palestinians from entering Israel.'

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Israel Plans to Raze 200 Homes in Jerusalem Al-Quds

Israeli officials have given the go-ahead for the demolition of 200 Palestinian homes in Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem Al-Quds.

According to the Ma'an news agency, most of the homes that are threatened with imminent demolition are located in Silwan, a deprived and overcrowded Palestinian community lying just outside the walls of Old Jerusalem Al-Quds and in the shadow of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Meanwhile, human rights groups have warned that around one third of the population of the Shiyah neighborhood in central Jerusalem Al-Quds is threatened with displacement.'

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