Holy Warring in Gaza

The efforts of Jewish fundamentalists to thwart disengagement plans in Israeli settlements continue to get biblical, this week with a plot to occupy the disputed holy site of Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa mosque, plus a good, old-fashioned stoning. The plotting, captured on video by a local news station, took place Wednesday night in the old city of Jerusalem between representatives of 30 groups, including right-wing extremists and rabbis, who aim to disrupt the planned evacuation because, as Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei warned, any attack on the al-Aqsa mosque will lead to a regional “explosion.” The next morning, between 30 and 40 Yeshiva students attacked eight Palestinian laborers employed in in the West Bank settlement of Nahliel, beating them with clubs and stones.