Jewish people must be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount during the High Holidays and Sukkot, lawmakers in the Knesset Interior Committee said Wednesday.
Deputy Jerusalem District Police Commander Brig.-Gen. Avshalom Peled said Jews will be allowed to visit the Temple Mount in upcoming months, but there are public safety considerations.
"There is a government instruction to allow Jews on the Temple Mount and it must be implemented," Interior Committee chairwoman Miri Regev (Likud) said.
Regev added that in extreme cases, like when there are riots, the Mount should be closed to everyone, not just non-Muslims.
She also suggested that Jews and Muslims be completely separated on the Mount.
MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) agreed, recommending that there be a 100 meter empty zone between Jews and Muslims at the site.
MK David Tsur (Hatnua), who was chairman of a special subcommittee to examine the status of the Temple Mount, proposed that Jews and Muslims be allowed on the site at different times.
Temple Institute Director Yehuda Glick described Muslim rioting on the Temple Mount, which he said reached their peak on Lalyat al-Qadr, during Ramadan, which Muslims believe is the night the first verses of the Koran were revealed to Muhammad.
On that night, Glick said, "there was a pogrom on the Temple Mount." Videos posted online during the holiday on July 24 show Arab rioters looting the police station in the area and burning its contents. Rioters also replaced the Israeli flag atop the police station with a Palestinian flag. Police left the station when the violent mob approached.
Feiglin told police representatives in the meeting: "There is no status quo [for Israeli authority] on the Temple Mount and you are allowing the next murder to happen." Tsur recommended that the police not allow anyone who participates in rioting to return to the Mount.
"I see the Mount as a place meant for prayer, not riots," he stated.
Peled said that 492 people were arrested after the police station was vandalized and 188 of them were indicted and will remain in custody until legal proceedings are concluded.
As for the fact that officers were not in the station at the time, Peled said there is an agreement that they will leave during certain holidays.