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Israel Moves to Outlaw Extremist Muslim Guards on Temple Mount

(Ha'aretz) Amos Harel - Israel's defense establishment is seeking to outlaw the "Mourabitoun" - a group of Palestinian guards stationed on the Temple Mount to block entry by Jews. The guards, staffed by Muslim men and women, have often been involved in clashes with the Israel Police or Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount during the past year. They are funded by various Islamist parties, including some extremist groups in Israel. A senior security official said the Mourabitoun guards receive a monthly salary of $776-1,036, with some of the funds coming from the Gulf States. Earlier this month, Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino told the Knesset that "the smartest thing to do is to show how we're stopping the funding. We recently seized roughly a million shekels. We felt a drastic change on the Temple Mount in a matter of days, the numbers [of guards] went down." The move to criminalize the guards' activities on the Temple Mount is one of a series of steps being taken to reduce the tension on the Mount, which is considered to be the primary cause of the escalation of Palestinian violence in Jerusalem during the last month.
2014-11-26 00:00:00
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