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JERUSALEM (JTA) – A record 1440 Jews visited the Temple Mount on Sunday to commemorate the fasting of Tisha B & Av.
The total was provided by the Yeraeh organization, which facilitates Jewish visits to the Temple Mount. Last year, nearly 1,300 people visited the site. Some 400 visitors in 2016 and 300 in 2015, reported the Jerusalem Post.
At least 15 visitors were arrested, most of them bowing or praying on the site, banned by the police for fear of triggering Muslim riots
. "Today is a dark day in the history of Jerusalem and Palestine," Palestinian Authority spokesman Yousif Mahmoud said in a statement issued by Wafa. 39, Palestinian official news agency
. Jumana Ghneimat, Jordanian State Minister for Media Affairs, also condemned "the provocative incursions of extremists and settlers that took place today in the holy site 's courtyards," reported. Palestinian press agency Maan, quoting the official news agency Petra Jordan.
Ghneimat said the visits "violate the sanctity of this holy place, provoke feelings of faithful and Muslims around the world, and constitutes a violation of Israel's obligations as an occupying Power under international law and international humanitarian law
The Islamic Wakf based in Jordan oversees the holy site
Yehudah Glick, an activist on Mount Temple Party Likud, visited the site early Sunday morning. He recalled in a tweet in which he included photos of the crowds who are waiting to visit the Temple Mount that in previous years the site was closed to non-Muslim visitors on the solemn fast day that commemorates the destruction of the two sacred temples of Jerusalem
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