Move comes after defense minister announces that the three groups, founded by radical northern branch of Israel's Islamic Movement, will be outlawed.
Israeli security forces on Monday shut down the offices of three Islamist groups in Nazareth suspected of sending paid activists to cause disturbances at the Temple Mount when Jewish groups arrive to visit the Jerusalem site sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
The raid came after Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon announced late last month that the three groups, all founded by the radical northern branch of Israel's Islamic Movement, were being outlawed on the basis of a recommendation by the Shin Bet security service.
The security service said the three institutions were aimed at funding the activities of Palestinians seeking to "undercut the security of visitors to the Temple Mount and cause an escalation of tension and even disturbances, while impinging on Israel's sovereignty in the complex."
Some of the money that goes toward paying the recruits about 3,000 shekels to 4,000 shekels a month comes from Gulf states to East Jerusalem via couriers, security officials said.
The Islamic Movement shuttles the activists to the Temple Mount area, mostly from homes in the Galilee, security officials said. They said the recruits, who include women as well as men, arrive early in the morning and pray, going into action only when Jewish groups arrive - at which point they come as close to the groups as police will allow and curse and strike the Jewish visitors.
"With the arrival of a group of visitors to the Temple Mount, the activists tend to exhibit verbal, and even physical, violence toward the visitors, while impinging on freedom of religion, and in a way that threatens their personal sense of security of the visitors at the complex," the Shin Bet said. "It should be emphasized that the activity of these institutions has caused unrest as flames are fanned in the complex, while the site that is sacred to Islam and Judaism is exploited. In light of this, it has been decided to decree that these institutions are unauthorized associations."
The decision to outlaw the three groups – the Al-Fajar Association for Arts and Literacy, Muslim Women for Al-Aqsa and Ruad Al-Aqsa – has the backing of Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to go even further, by outlawing the northern branch altogether, but the Shin Bet opposes the move.
Jewish activists who advocate the right of Jews to go to the Temple Mount have long complained that the police have been too tolerant of the attacks on Jewish visitors. Two Jewish visitors were detained for questioning Monday after singing "Am Yisrael Chai" ("The Jewish People Lives") in response to catcalls from the Islamic Movement activists.
There have been frequent clashes in recent months between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the Temple Mount area. Violence has become almost a daily norm, especially when police officers insist on physically separating Jewish visitors from Arab protesters.
On Sunday police announced that a 24-year-old Ramallah man was arrested last week on suspicion of stabbing two Border Police officers in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Yehuda Glick, a prominent activist for the Jewish right to visit the Temple Mount who survived an assassination attempt last year, was indicted in October on charges of shoving and wounding a Muslim woman shouting at him near the contentious site.
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