Israel shuts down Palestinian territories for holiday
Israel barred Palestinians from entering from the occupied West Bank or the Gaza Strip ahead of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday that begins on Tuesday evening. Thousands of Jews visit the Western Wall in east Jerusalem's Old City around Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, which ends on Wednesday evening. The same occurred for last week's Rosh Hashanah holiday and will take place again for next week's Sukkot festival. More than 3,000 police are being deployed in the city for the holiday.
On Monday night, tens of thousands of Jews crowded into the square around the Western Wall, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Prayers led by Israel's two chief rabbis began shortly after midnight and continued until sunset for some worshipers, in one of the largest Jewish ceremonies of the year.
Many Palestinian shops in the Old City remained closed. Near the Lions' Gate entry to the Old City, used by many Palestinians, Israeli forces erected a temporary barrier stopping cars from going further. Closures of the Palestinian territories are often put in place for major Jewish holidays.
The closure in place Tuesday and Wednesday applies only to Palestinians and not the roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers who live in the West Bank. The Gaza Strip is always under an Israeli blockade, though some crossings are usually allowed for work or medical purposes.
Humanitarian and urgent medical cases will be allowed through during the holiday despite the closure, the army said. Beyond visits to the Western Wall, the holidays also see an increased number of Jewish visitors to the adjacent Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The site is holy to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
It is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing that Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it. It is located in east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967 and later annexed. On Sunday, a 39-year-old Palestinian who saw himself as a protector of Al-Aqsa went on a shooting spree in Jerusalem, killing two Israelis. The attacker, Misbah Abu Sbeih, who was reportedly scheduled to begin a prison term on the same day, was killed by police after he fled into an east Jerusalem neighborhood. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced they had arrested a Palestinian, Mohamed Joulani, last month on suspicion of planning a suicide attack on a bus in Pisgat Zeev, an Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem, on behalf of Hamas.
In addition, the army said it had demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian sentenced to life in prison for the shooting deaths of an Israeli couple in front of their children a year ago. The home of Amjad Aliwi, an apartment on the third floor of a building in the West Bank city of Nablus, was destroyed overnight with explosives, Palestinian police said. Palestinians and human rights groups say the measure amounts to collective punishment since family members are forced to suffer for the acts of others.
On Monday night, tens of thousands of Jews crowded into the square around the Western Wall, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Prayers led by Israel's two chief rabbis began shortly after midnight and continued until sunset for some worshipers, in one of the largest Jewish ceremonies of the year.
Many Palestinian shops in the Old City remained closed. Near the Lions' Gate entry to the Old City, used by many Palestinians, Israeli forces erected a temporary barrier stopping cars from going further. Closures of the Palestinian territories are often put in place for major Jewish holidays.
The closure in place Tuesday and Wednesday applies only to Palestinians and not the roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers who live in the West Bank. The Gaza Strip is always under an Israeli blockade, though some crossings are usually allowed for work or medical purposes.
Humanitarian and urgent medical cases will be allowed through during the holiday despite the closure, the army said. Beyond visits to the Western Wall, the holidays also see an increased number of Jewish visitors to the adjacent Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The site is holy to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
It is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing that Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it. It is located in east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967 and later annexed. On Sunday, a 39-year-old Palestinian who saw himself as a protector of Al-Aqsa went on a shooting spree in Jerusalem, killing two Israelis. The attacker, Misbah Abu Sbeih, who was reportedly scheduled to begin a prison term on the same day, was killed by police after he fled into an east Jerusalem neighborhood. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced they had arrested a Palestinian, Mohamed Joulani, last month on suspicion of planning a suicide attack on a bus in Pisgat Zeev, an Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem, on behalf of Hamas.
In addition, the army said it had demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian sentenced to life in prison for the shooting deaths of an Israeli couple in front of their children a year ago. The home of Amjad Aliwi, an apartment on the third floor of a building in the West Bank city of Nablus, was destroyed overnight with explosives, Palestinian police said. Palestinians and human rights groups say the measure amounts to collective punishment since family members are forced to suffer for the acts of others.