Protests as Jerusalem’s holiest site reopened
ISRAEL reopened an ultra-sensitive holy site yesterday, closed after an attack that killed two policemen, but Muslim worshippers were refusing to enter due to new security measures including metal detectors and cameras.
Crowds chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) as a number of initial visitors entered Jerusalem’s Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The flashpoint holy site includes the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
A call to prayer rang out from Al-Aqsa, but Muslim worshippers held midday prayers outside the site in protest against the new security measures.
Dozens gathered to pray at an entrance to the compound next to the Lions’ Gate entry to the Old City.
Al-Aqsa director Sheikh Omar Kiswani said outside: “We reject the changes imposed by the Israeli government.
“We will not enter through these metal detectors.”
Some women wailed and cried while telling people not to enter.
Three Arab-Israeli assailants opened fire on Israeli police on Friday in Jerusalem’s Old City before fleeing to the compound, where they were shot dead by security forces.
Israeli authorities said the gunmen had come from the flashpoint holy site to carry out the attack.
Israel took the highly unusual decision of closing the Al-Aqsa compound for Friday prayers, triggering anger from Muslims and from Jordan, custodian of the holy site.
The site remained closed on Saturday, while parts of Jerusalem’s Old City were also under lockdown.
Israeli authorities said the closure was necessary to carry out security checks and they would reopen the compound yesterday.
Police said yesterday that so far two gates leading to the site had been opened, equipped with metal detectors, and more than 200 people had entered.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of the security measures late on Saturday, before departing for Paris.
“This evening, I held a discussion with the top security leadership and instructed that metal detectors be placed at the entrance gates to the Temple Mount,” he said.
“We will also install security cameras on poles outside the Temple Mount but which give almost complete control over what goes on there.”
Netanyahu spoke by phone with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Saturday night, Amman said.
Abdullah condemned the attack and called on Netanyahu to reopen the Al-Aqsa compound.
He stressed the need to avoid any escalation at the site.
Proposals to change security measures at the compound have sparked controversy in the past.
A plan developed in 2015 between Israel and Jordan to install cameras at the site itself fell apart amid disagreement over how they would be operated.
The Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it.
It is located in east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967.