Palestinian leader cuts security ties with Israel

Dispute over erection of metal-detecting gates at mosque raises fears that violence will escalate

MAHMOUD ABBAS, the Palestinian Authority president, yesterday said he had halted security cooperation with Israel, raising fears of an escalation of violence.

Israel yesterday said it would not remove the metal-detecting gates that were introduced at the entrance of the al-aqsa mosque in Jerusalem after three Israeli Arab gunmen killed two police officers at the site earlier this month, and installed further security cameras there.

Last night, police said that two Jordanians had been killed and an Israeli was wounded in a shooting in a building inside the Israeli embassy complex in Jordan’s capital, Amman. The two Jordanians had entered the building in the embassy to perform carpentry work, the police said in a statement. One man died at the scene from a gunshot and the two others were taken to hospital with the second Jordanian dying there from his injuries.

Cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities ceased after a bloody weekend in which three Israelis were murdered by a Palestinian in a West Bank settlement and four Palestinian protesters were killed by Israeli forces. Omar al-abed, the Palestinian attacker, had written on Facebook that he wanted to “die for al-aqsa”.

Mr Abbas said that by taking the decision to stop co-operation he hoped to force the Israelis to remove the gates, as well as stop incursions by the Israelis into cities in the West Bank ostensibly under Palestinian control. Security coordination between the two authorities was last halted during the Second Intifada, and reintroduced when Mr Abbas came to power in 2005. Israel security services have said that such arrangements were vital in reducing a wave of violence that broke out in October 2015.

Avigdor Liberman, the Israeli defence minister, played down the cessation of cooperation. In comments to the Israeli news site Ynet, he said: “That’s their decision. It’s not like the security co-ordination is an Israeli need. It’s a Palestinian need first and foremost. If they want it, they’ll continue, if not they won’t… We’ll manage either way.”

The move has come after a week of tension in which Islamic religious authorities in Jerusalem have led protests against the placement of the metal detectors, which many consider to be a violation of access agreements at Islam’s third-holiest site. Initially peaceful protests on Friday descended into large-scale rioting in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Violent unrest continued on Saturday night after police broke up protests in Jerusalem. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that a protester had been shot and killed on Saturday evening.

In a statement released yesterday morning, the Islamic authorities in Jerusalem rejected the imposition of any new security measures at all at the site.

The Israeli security cabinet was due to meet last night to discuss possible alternatives to the metal detectors.

‘It’s a Palestinian need first and foremost. If they want it, they’ll continue, if not they won’t… we’ll manage’