Jerusalem police on Monday arrested four Hamas activists from east Jerusalem who are suspected of organizing illicit Palestinian political activity on the Temple Mount, police said.
A large group of Muslims praying at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Photo: AP [file]
The arrests came just 48 hours after police apprehended four Arab teens and a Wakf official on the Temple Mount for allegedly hanging two large pictures of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian flags on Al-Aksa Mosque.
Jerusalem police spokes-man Shmuel Ben-Ruby said that the violent Islamic group was consistently trying to increase its presence on the Jerusalem holy site and was exploiting the large turnout at the compound for a three-day Muslim holiday underway in an attempt to expand its activities at the site.
Police had closed off the site to non-Muslims for the Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, holiday that began Saturday.
According to decades-old arrangements in place at the site, Israel maintains overall security on the Temple Mount, while the Wakf, or Islamic Trust, is in charge of the day-to-day maintenance of the compound.
The four suspects were brought to a Jerusalem court for a remand hearing Monday.
