Early on Friday of last week there was a shooting on the Temple Mount which resulted in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers. Three Arabs with Israeli citizenship snuggled guns onto the holy area and shot the officers before being killed themselves.

The word Jerusalem means city of peace. But this weekend there was little peace to be found.

The Israeli authorities, in a rare move, barred access to the Old City and to the Temple Mount and the Muslim Al Aksa Mosque there, preventing teens of thousands of Muslim worshippers from attending Friday prayers. Our group that went to the Herodium was delayed about an hour before we could head out of the Old City to reach our bus.

We found out later that one of the Israeli soldiers killed was the same soldier that befriended members of our group when we toured the Temple Mount the previous week.

The increased police presence is quite visible but so far, except for some delays, has not impacted our daily routines.  (As you will see in the next post.)

The Israeli authorities installed metal detectors at multiple entrances to the Temple Mount (where there had only been one location before).  The Arabs took this as a breach of the fragile “status quo” arrangement that manages access to the Holy site and have expressed their displeasure with protests and angry rhetoric.

This Friday’s mid-day prayer will be a time of great tension and will be watched closely by all involved.  

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem — Muslims, Jews and Christians — that cool heads will prevail and tensions eased, and that Jerusalem will live up to its name!