TEL AVIV — Jerusalem was on high security alert Thursday after the attempted assassination of an outspoken Israeli right-wing activist and the fatal shooting by police of the Palestinian suspect. Roadblocks were set up and more than 1,000 extra police officers mobilized “to prevent any further violence in order to keep the situation under control,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The flashpoint of the Temple Mount — a holy site both for Jews and Muslims, who call it Noble Sanctuary — was closed for the first time since September 2000. The elevated marble and stone compound is the third-most sacred site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism.
Yehuda Glick, a prominent campaigner, was shot and severely wounded Wednesday as he left a conference promoting a campaign to permit praying at Temple Mount. Glick has dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship, according to the Jerusalem Post. He was being treated in hospital for three close-range gunshot wounds, Rosenfeld said. Early Thursday, police shot and killed a Palestinian who they described as the suspect in the attempted assassination of Glick. Rosenfeld said shots were fired from inside the house in Abu Tor, east Jerusalem, when police surrounded it, prompting officers to respond. Friends identified the slain Palestinian as Moutaaz Hijazi, 32.
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- Paul Goldman, Lawahez Jabari and Alastair Jamieson
First published October 30 2014, 2:02 AM