On Tuesday 24th September, Israel opened an alleged "Second Temple" tunnel that connects to a cistern (where access will be permitted) that runs under al-Haram al-Sharif (the whole area of the "Temple Mount"), the site of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the world's third most holy site for Muslims. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat announced a national strike for the following day and the West Bank and Gaza Strip errupted with angry demonstrations.
This protest was about much more than the opening of a tunnel, one in a long line of Israeli attempts to present Jerusalem to the world as a purely Jewish city. The protest was the result of utter Palestinian disillusionment about the peace process, that has been carried out with disregard for Palestinian rights, first by the Israeli Labour government and more recently, by the Netanyahu-led Likud government.
The demonstrations developed into a battle between Israeli and Palestinian troops. This website offers news and photographs from the area of Ramallah, a central West Bank Palestinian town that has become a battlefield.
