Oct 25 (Reuters) - Israeli police and Arab worshippers clashed near Jerusalem's flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City on Sunday and several people were arrested, an Israeli police spokesman and Palestinian officials said. The clashes came amid rising tensions in the past weeks over the area known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary, site of the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam's holiest sites. Here are some facts about the place Jews call Temple Mount and Muslims know as al-Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary). * It is home to the gilded 7th-century Dome of the Rock, a fixture of the Jerusalem skyline, and built over the spot where Jews and Christians believe Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac to God before an angel stayed his hand. * In Muslim tradition, Mohammad ascended into heaven from the rock underneath the Dome of the Rock. * The 8th-century al-Aqsa mosque also stands on the stone esplanade, about the size of a large city square. Judaism's Western Wall, a Jewish prayer site believed to be a perimeter wall of the second biblical Temple, sits just below. * The Temple Mount is the most sacred site in Judaism. Jews believe the biblical King Solomon built the first temple there 3,000 years ago. A second temple was razed by the Romans in AD 70. * Muslims see al-Haram al-Sharif as the third holiest site after the cities of Mecca and Medina in modern Saudi Arabia. * Christians believe Jesus taught at the temple during the Roman period and drove out money-changers. * Israel captured the site in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it along with the rest of East Jerusalem and adjoining parts of the West Bank, in a move not recognised internationally. * The compound is administered by an Islamic trust known as the Waqf. Jordan's king also has a role in maintaining the site. * Many, but not all, Jews believe they are forbidden by ritual law to visit the Temple Mount out of fear they might tread on sacred ground where the faithful believe the Holy of Holies, which enshrined the Ark of the Covenant, once stood. * A Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 after then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the compound.
Soumoud Saadat, daughter of Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), looks on during a protest calling for her father's release from Israeli jails, at ...
