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Palestinian Women Join Effort to Keep Jews from Holy Site
(New York Times) Diaa Hadid - The women, covered face-to-toe, surrounded the Jewish group walking through the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and shouted: "The army of Muhammad is coming!" "We are guardians for the sake of God," said Mona, 57. "Everybody must protect Al Aqsa so the Jews don't take it." The compound is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest place in Islam. In 2010 the Israel-based Islamic Movement began busing in thousands of Palestinians for prayers, encouraged school excursions, and started study circles, paying participants to keep vigil all day. The circles were opened to women in 2012. Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, said that in recent weeks the women have progressed from chanting at Jewish visitors to chasing them; some who are barred from the site stand outside the gate and shout at Jews as they exit.