Sharon was being filmed and never entered the mosque or dome, nor did he pray while on the mount during that visit. Sharon had visited the mount compound on a number of other occasion over the years. The visit requested was planned to be, and permitted by Arafat, as a meeting place between Sharon and Arafat to finally shake hands. Arafat had other ideas and rejected the peace offering by Sharon and the peace deal that would have given up half of jerusalem to the palestinian state. He even had bus loads of palestinians brought in to ensure a situation that would trigger the intafada. Rocks also were brought and placed around the mount area. It was not a spontaneous response but an orchestrated one, and witnessed by the world.
Israeli forces do more to keep jews from the mount that permit them. Rabble muslims that cause trouble are often limited as a means to prevent rock or fire attacks on the mount or down below at the Kotel. They were allowed to return for friday prayers. More often than not Israeli police do not permit tourism by jews on the mount, especially when emotions are hightened so as not to incite a confrontation.
>>Sharon was only permitted to enter the compound after the Israeli Interior Minister had received assurances from the Palestinian Authority's security chief that no problems would arise if he made the visit.
[21] Sharon did not actually go into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and went during normal tourist hours. Colin Shindler writes "Shlomo Ben-Ami, the Minister of Internal security, was told by Israeli intelligence that there was no concerted risk of violence. This was implicitly confirmed by Jibril Rajoub, the Palestinian head of Preventive Security on the West Bank, who told Ben-Shlomo that Sharon could visit the Haram, but not enter a mosque on security grounds."
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