JERUSALEM - Israeli police have limited access to Jerusalem's disputed Al-Aqsa mosque complex on Sunday after Jewish extremists threatened to hold a banned rally there, said a police statement.
Only Muslim Arab Israelis and Palestinian Muslims from East Jerusalem aged at least 40 will be allowed onto the site, said the statement, adding that Jewish Israeli MPs were also barred.
Jewish group Revava has said it will hold a demonstration at the site, which it calls Temple Mount, to bring some "10,000 Jews to the heavily restricted Temple Mount to spark Israeli dialogue about reclaiming the holy site from its Muslim custodians."
Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra said earlier that the "Israeli government will not permit under any circumstances any provocation that could disturb the peace".
"Revava has called on its supporters to converge in force on Temple Mount, with Muslims organising to protect the site," Ezra said. "That would cause trouble not only in Jerusalem but in the entire Middle East."
Palestinian militant groups warned Friday that violence would explode across the Middle East if the group tried to descend on the disputed area.
They said any extremist Jewish rally around the mosque would be tantamount to a declaration of war which would destroy an informal truce which has held since January.
04/09/2005 19:46 GMT