Israeli police halt Jewish visits to the Temple Mount

Over the last month, more than 400 Jewish and Christian visitors visited the holy site under police escort, without going into any of the mosques on the area, police said. There was no violence during the visits.

At the same time, in the weeks since publication that the site had been partially reopened to small groups of Jewish and Christian visitors, officials from the Islamic Wakf, which maintains the day-to-day maintenance at the area, have expressed ongoing opposition to the reentry of the visitors, especially in light of the vociferous condemnation of the move by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

The heads of the Wakf had held an emergency stormy meeting last week to discuss the partial reopening of the site, a move which was taken without their consent or approval. Some officials -- urged on by Arafat -- had demanded that the gates to the Temple Mount be closed to prevent Jews from entering the compound, Wakf officials said.