“Attacking or destroying or burning the Islamic house of worship of 1400 years would spark off religious wars between Muslims and Jews, wars that would only end when the redeemer or Jewish Messiah appears.”-Khalid Amayreh, Al-Jazeerah

February 21, 2012, Israeli police have been attacked with stones, by Palestinians who say they are defending the Al-Aqsa Mosque (aka Dome of the Rock), which is located on the ruins of the ancient Hebrew temple.  The stoning of Israeli police comes one day after police attacked Palestinian protestors.

Tensions have been building after internet rumors began, saying that Israel was planning on taking down the Mosque.  Since the weekend Israeli riot police have been on stand by, and Jews and Christians have been escorted by the military.

This is not the first time Israel has made moves against the Mosque: “Today, the Zionist regime is making the same foolish moves that the former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon did in 2000, and there is a possibility for sparking another Intifada.”-Salah Bardewil, Hamas

Israel has also been accused of digging under the Mosque, officially for archaeological reasons, in the hopes it would collapse. Those digs have been escalating in size recently.

Officially Israeli police say they do not know why Palestinians are suddenly up in arms (rocks) about the Mosque.  Muslim officials connected to the Al-Aqsa Mosque say they have evidence that Israeli officials are going to divide the Mosque into Jewish and Muslim sections.

While Israeli media denies such plans by the Israeli government, an Israeli  Likud political party member, Moshe Feiglin, announced such plans two weeks ago: “We call upon everyone to go up the Temple Mound, the Haram Ash-Sharif, one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, to declare a proper leadership which insures our full control of the mount in order to build the temple on the ruins of al-Aqsa Mosque.”