Standoff at Jerusalem holy site after metal detectors removed

JERUSALEM: A tense standoff was underway between Israel and Muslim worship per sat a Jerusalem holy site yesterday despite the removal of metal detectors, with concerns of major unrest later this week if a resolution is not found.

Muslims have refused to enter the site and have prayed in the streets outside for more than a week after Israel installed new security measures at the Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The measures followed an attack that killed two policemen and included metal detectors at entrances.

Palestinians view the move as Israel asserting further control over the site, which houses the revered Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Israeli authorities said the metal detectors were needed because the July 14 attackers smuggled guns into the site and emerged from it to attack the officers.

Protests and deadly unrest have erupted in the days since, with clashes breaking out around the compound in Jerusalem’s Old City and in the occupied West Bank, leaving five Palestinians dead.

A Palestinian also broke into a home in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank last week and stabbed four Israelis, killing three of them.

There are concerns the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday – which typically draw thousands to Al-Aqsa – will lead to serious clashes between protesters and Israeli security forces.

Following intensive international diplomacy and warnings of the potential of wider unrest, Israel removed the metal detectors in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday.

Cameras installed in the wake of the attack on the police were also removed. But Israeli officials said they were to be replaced with ‘advanced technologies’ – widely believed to be smart cameras with facial recognition technology.

Railings installed at the site’s entrance before the metal detectors were removed have also remained in place.

The railings and suspicions over what new measures Israel is planning have led Palestinian and Muslim leaders to continue to call for a boycott of the site, and worshippers have heeded the call.

“We leave at 6am and we return after the last prayers around 9.30 to 10pm,” Umm Maath, from Nazareth in northern Israel who has been coming with a group to pray outside in protest, said yesterday.

“We reject the metal detectors. We reject the cameras.”

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who announced a freeze on contacts with Israel last week over the dispute, said Tuesday the suspension would continue until the site was returned to the way it was before the crisis began.

Muslim authorities at the holy compound have been conducting an inspection in and around the site to ensure there were no other changes or damage.

Israel’s decision to remove the metal detectors came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II, who had demanded their removal.