Arutz Sheva (excerpts):  Dozens of riot police were deployed to quell a Muslim riot on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday.  Israel Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said more than 100 Muslims began throwing rocks at a police location following Friday prayers, prompting the police to enter the compound.  Police said they used stun grenades against the demonstrators and that "dozens of people" had barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque.  "We are negotiating with the Israelis not to storm into the mosque or the Dome of the Rick and to let people out," Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, head of the Jerusalem Waqf, told AFP.  He blamed the Israeli government for the rioting and claimed they will "bear the consequences," adding "We demand that no settlers, radicals or soldiers enter the mosque to avoid friction." 

Much of the tension follows on the heels of an unconfirmed report published by the Al Aqsa Center earlier this week claiming Israel plans to divide the Temple Mount into separate Jewish and Muslim sections, in the same way that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron is divided. 

Friday's riot is only the latest in a series of clashes with police, and attacks on Jewish and Christian pilgrims by Muslims on the Temple Mount this week.  On Thursday, police arrested seven Arabs who instigated a series of confrontations with Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City.  On Tuesday, Muslims on the Temple Mount hurled stones and shoes at police escorting Jewish and Christian visitors.  One police officer sustained minor injuries.  Two Muslims were arrested in that incident, police said.  On Sunday, police used tear gas to disperse Muslim rioters who were throwing stones inside the compound, arresting 18 people. 

The Temple Mount is the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque since 705 AD.  However, long before that, it was the site of the First Holy Temple, built by King Solomon, which stood at that site from ~950 BC to 587 BC, and the Second Holy Temple, from 517 BC to 70 AD, and is indisputably Judaism's most sacred site.  The Muslim Waqf, the religious Muslim authority, has systematically attempted to destroy all archaeological evidence of earlier Jewish presence on the Mount, illegally excavating and destroying priceless and irreplaceable relics.  Israeli archaeologists and volunteers sift painstakingly through the debris of the excavations, finding artifacts that are then transferred to Israeli museums.  The Muslim Waqf was alloweed to manage the site after Israel succeeded liberating the Temple Mount in 1967, at the suggestion of then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan.  It maintains a discriminatory policy seeking to bar Jews entry to the site.  The Israeli police, afraid of riots, allow Jewish worshipers to be discriminated against to the point of not being allowed to even whisper prayers on the Mount.

Commentary:  Let's just call that, "Dome of the Rock Throwers (couldn't resist that).  There's no doubt that the reports of Israel planning to divide the Temple Mount are absolutely true.  During the Sukkot festival in 2006, Uri Ariel, a National Union member of the Knesset, ascended the Mount and said that he is preparing a plan where a synagogue will be built on the Mount, apart from the location of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  There has also been much talk among the Sanhedrin and The Temple Institute about reconstruction of the Temple.  In fact, all of the Temple artifacts have been recreated, as well as the priests garments, altars, Menorah, all implements required.  The Temple Institute has been training Levites for the priestly duties for a number of years already.  In fact, they have announced that once the Temple is built, they are equipped to begin priestly duties and required sacrifices.  The Bible refers to a latter days Temple in Daniel 9:27 and 2 Thessalonians 2:4.  "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day (the return of Christ) will not come except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sits in the Temple of God, showing himself to be God" 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.  This prophecy has not been fulfilled yet, but as you can see, Paul refers to a latter days Temple.  As all other Biblical prophecies to date, the prophecy of the third Temple will come to pass, it is only a matter of time - a relatively short period of time at that.  Since Israel became a nation in 1948 (against all odds), then recaptured Jerusalem (against all odds), we can see the prophetic clock winding down to Christ's return right before our eyes!