Background
TheEvents
According to Anthony Lewis:Palestinians on the Temple Mount began throwing stones at Jews worshiping, on a religious holiday, at the Western Wall below. The only security forces present, 40 men from the paramilitaryAccording to the Israeli "Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Events on Temple Mount on 8 October 1990":Israeli Border Police The Israel Border Police ( he, מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל, Mišmar Ha-Gvul) is the gendarmerie and border security branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav (), meaning border gu ..., used live ammunition on the Palestinians. They killed at least 21. There were no Israeli deaths. The Israeli Government claimed that the Palestinians brought the stones with them and staged the incident as a political provocation. The Temple Mount is a paved plain that usually has few if any stones. But at this time construction work did provide material for missiles. Zeev Schiff, the respected defense correspondent of the newspaper ''Haaretz'', said the Palestinians began throwing stones only after mosques in the nearby village of Silwan announced through loudspeakers that Jewish extremists had come there. The extremists were from the Temple Mount Faithful, who proposed to rebuild Solomon's Temple where the Al-Aqsa mosque now stands.
The members of the Wakf knew that the High Court had refused the Temple Mount Faithful petition to lay the cornerstone of the Third Temple, and did not respond to requests by Israel Police officers on the morning of the incident to calm the crowd. This, even after the police informed the Wakf that they would also prevent the Temple Mount Faithful, and anyone else, from visiting the area, though such visits are allowed by law.and
The incident itself began when, suddenly, violent and threatening calls were sounded over the loudspeakers "Allahu Akbar" od is Great "Ahad"oly War Oly may refer to: * Oly, informal name for Olympia, Washington, United States * OLY (: ), postnominals granted to participants in the Olympics People with the name * Oly (born 1992), American singer-songwriter and musician * Oly Hicks (born 1968 ..."Itbah Al-Yahud" laughter the Jews. Immediately afterwards, enormous amounts of rocks, construction materials and metal objects were thrown at Israeli policemen who were present at the site. Many in the incited, rioting mob threw stones and metal objects from a very short range, and some even wielded knives. The actions of the rioters, and certainly the inciters, constituted a threat to the lives of the police, the thousands of worshippers at the Western Wall and to themselves. This was a serious criminal offense committed by masses who were incited by preachers over loudspeakers, and this is what led to the tragic chain of events. ..Nineteen policemen were injured as well as nine Western Wall worshippers. According to Police statistics, 20 people were killed and 52 injured on the Temple Mount.
International response
On October 10, The United States proposed a resolution, supported by the United Nations Secretary General,Res. 672 (Oct. 12, 1990) – "Expresses alarm at the violence which took place" on October 8, 1990, "at the Al Haram al Shareef and other Holy Places of Jerusalem resulting in over twenty Palestinian deaths and to the injury of more than one hundred and fifty people, including Palestinian civilians and innocent worshippers", "Condemns especially the acts of violence committed by the Israeli forces resulting in injuries and loss of human life", and "Requests, in connection with the decision of the Secretary-General to send a mission to the region, which the Council welcomes, that he submit a report to it before the end of October 1990 containing his findings and conclusions and that he use as appropriate all the resources of the United Nations in the region in carrying out the mission."Israel ended up rejecting the resolution, saying it did not pay attention to attacks by rocks on Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall.Cuéllar, Javier Pérez de (1997). Pilgrimage for peace: a Secretary-General's memoir. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 96. . In turn, the UN Security Council unanimously backed UN Security Council Resolution 673 on Oct. 24, 1990 condemning Israeli rejection of the UN fact finding mission.
Deplores the refusal of the Israeli Government to receive the mission of the Secretary-General to the region", and "Urges the Israeli Government to reconsider its decision and insists that it comply fully with resolution 672 (1990) and to permit the mission of the Secretary-General to proceed in keeping with its purpose.Failing to get agreement from Israel, the Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar on October 31 published his report. In the report, he stated:
The Secretary-General has thus been unable to secure independent information on the spot, about the circumstances surrounding the recent events in Jerusalem and similar developments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Widespread coverage has, however, been given by the international press to the clashes that occurred at Al-Haram Al-Shareef and other Holy Places of Jerusalem on 8 October 1990. According to reports, which vary, some 17 to 21 Palestinians were killed and more than 150 wounded by Israeli security forces, and more than 20 Israeli civilians and police were wounded by Palestinians. While there are conflicting opinions as to what provoked the clashes, observers on the spot, including personnel of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), stated that live ammunition was used against Palestinian civilians. Attention is drawn, in this connection, to the fact that a number of inquiries have been conducted. Apart from the sraeliCommission of Investigation referred to in paragraphs 3, 4 and 7 above, several Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations have conducted inquiries of their own. The findings of two of them,Following the report, United Nations Security Council Resolution 681 on 20 December 1990, referring to Resolutions 672 and 673, called on Israel to apply the Fourth Geneva Convention to Palestinians in the occupied territories. In their Annual 1990 World ReportHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT 1990 https://www.hrw.org/reports/1990/WR90/MIDEAST.BOU-04.htm#P361_86053B'Tselem B'Tselem ( he, בצלם, , " in the image of od) is a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of su ...andAl-Haq Al-Haq () is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. Founded in 1979, Al-Haq monitors and documents human rights violations committed by parties to the Israeli–Palestinian confli ..., were communicated to the Secretary-General, on 14 October and 28 October 1990, respectively, and are being issued separately as addenda to the present report.
Israeli response
The Israeli Government claimed that the Palestinians brought the stones with them and staged the incident as a political provocation. The Temple Mount is a paved plain that usually has few if any stones. But at this time construction work did provide some stones. Israel rejected the UN resolution condemning the incident and calling for investigation, saying it did not pay attention to attacks onPalestinian response
Palestinians claimed they threw missiles only after the police fired at them while the police claimed it was the other way around. The Higher Islamic Council commissioned a report on the events and submitted it to the United Nations on October 28, 1990. In the report the Palestinians claimed "Moslems threw stones at the soldiers only after they were shot at with live ammunition and tear gas, and then only to defend themselves and to stop the soldiers. Moslems did not in any way assault holy places and worshipers from other religions, an act which would be against the very essence of their religion."See also
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Notes
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Temple Mount Riots 1990 in Israel 1990 riots Israeli–Palestinian conflict in Jerusalem Riots and civil disorder in Israel Riots and civil disorder under Israeli Civil Administration Temple Mount First Intifada October 1990 events in Asia 1990s in Jerusalem