Netanyahu defending shrine metal detectors
Muslim leaders calling for protests at holy site
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled Wednesday that he’s sticking to a decision to install metal detectors at a contested Jerusalem shrine, despite rising tensions and a Muslim call for mass protests.
Netanyahu, who was in Hungary, spoke by phone with Israeli security chiefs about the escalation in Jerusalem and was to hold more consultations after his return to Israel on Thursday.
The mass protests are set for Friday, the highlight of the Muslim religious week, when tens of thousands of Muslims typically attend prayers in the walled compound in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Meanwhile, several thousand Palestinian Muslims prayed Wednesday evening in the streets near Lion’s Gate, one of the entrances to the shrine that was fitted with metal detectors. Such prayers, with the faithful kneeling in orderly lines on the pavement, have been the main form of protest this week, signaling their refusal to pass through the detectors, but protesters have also scuffled with police.
Conflicts over the holy site have repeatedly triggered confrontations. The site — known as the Temple Mount to Jews and Haram al-sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, to Muslims — is at the heart of the Israeli-palestinian conflict.
The latest escalation began last week when three Palestinian gunmen launched an attack from there, killing two Israeli policemen at a gate to the Muslim-administered compound.
In response, Israel began installing metal detectors, a move Muslim religious leaders and Palestinian politicians allege is part of an attempt to expand control at the site.
Israel has denied such allegations. Muslim clerics on Wednesday urged the faithful to forego prayers in neighborhood mosques on Friday and converge on the shrine. Worshippers were asked to pray in the streets rather than submit to the new security procedures.
Netanyahu spoke to Israeli security chiefs by phone on Wednesday.
“There is no change regarding the metal detectors,” he told reporters in Budapest.
Israeli media reported that security chiefs are at odds over the new devices. Israel’s Shin Bet security service reportedly opposes the metal detectors as counterproductive, while police support the new measures.
Netanyahu said Israel is in close contact with Jordan, the traditional Muslim custodian of the shrine. Netanyahu said Jordan wants to “end this as quietly as possible.”
Netanyahu rejected Muslim allegations that Israel is changing long-standing arrangements at the shrine.
“We should look at the facts and the truth — the installation of metal detectors does not constitute any change in the status quo,” he said. “It is only meant to prevent a repeat of an attack with weapons.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the key to restoring calm is to have Israel respect the “historic and legal status” at the shrine, the state news agency Petra reported.