By Israel Insider staff and partners  August 13, 2005
Israeli police have limited the age of Muslim worshippers at a Jerusalem mosque compound and positioned thousands of officers throughout the Old City for fear that clashes between Jews and Muslims will erupt later Saturday, a police spokesman said.
As Israel Insider has reported, blocking Muslim access to the Old City and Temple Mount is part of a strategy by Gaza pullout opponents to draw away police forces from expulsion activities.
Thousands of observant Jews -- many of whom oppose Israel's impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip -- are expected to attend traditional prayer services at Jerusalem's Western Wall later Saturday, the eve of the Tisha B'Av fast day commemorating the destruction of the biblical Jewish Temples 2,000 years ago.

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In a show of force, Hamas founders and political leaders appeared Saturday on a stage together for the first time in a decade to tell the Palestinian people that the militant group's armed struggle will go on after Israel's impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
In a direct challenge to the Palestinian Authority, the Hamas leadership positioned itself in front of the group's logo and a green Islamic flag to send a message that they have the right to possess weapons and to claim responsibility for pushing Israel out of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas news conference comes just a day after the Palestinian Authority held its first official celebration -- with the attendance of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas -- of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.


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© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar believes the Earth will soon see the coming a Messiah to judge all mankind
"We know that he is very near at hand, but he needs not only to be born but also to come," Lazar told the Gazeta daily. "The Messiah may well have been born already, but unless he is ordered by God he cannot reveal himself with God’s help and change the world for the better."
Lazar explained his assumptions about the imminent coming of a Messiah.
"The world today is in a state described by our sages as 'hevley mashiah,' that is, labor that precedes the coming of a Messiah," he said.
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By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
The City Council of Gaza's Gush Katif slate of Jewish communities may bring Israel to the International Court of Justice if forces carrying out next week's evacuation of Jews from the area turn off essential utilities or close down medical clinics.
"We have instructed lawyers to study the possibility of bringing with the highest urgency a possible case against the State of Israel before the International Court of Justice at the Hague to have Israel provide its own population with the necessary utilities and humanitarian help, or at least to allow others let aid get through to the Jews of Gaza," said a Katif council statement.
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