Israeli Knesset member storms Al-Aqsa compound

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM

Member of Knesset (Israel's parliament) Yehuda Glick forced his way into East Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday.

"Glick broke into the Al-Aqsa compound along with a group of hardline Jews and toured the mosque courtyards before leaving," Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Religious Endowments Authority, said.

Glick, MK of the ruling Likud party, is a controversial figure who has called for building a Jewish temple where the mosque currently stands.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allowed Knesset members to tour the Al-Aqsa compound once every three months, but Israeli police later allowed Israeli politicians to break into the site once a month after coordination with them.

Glick was injured on Oct. 30, 2014, after being shot by a Palestinian man, who was killed by Israeli police in raid on his home in East Jerusalem the following day.

For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the "Temple Mount", claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the Jewish state in a move never recognized by the international community.