Holy site reopened after fatal assault

Israel had closed site for first time in decades Friday.

JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Muslim worshippers visited a Jerusalem holy site Sunday after Israel reopened the compound following a rare closure in response to a deadly shooting last week that raised concerns about wider unrest.

For the first time in decades, Israel closed the site — known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount — on Friday after three Arab citizens of Israel opened fire from the sacred site with automatic weapons, killing two police officers. The three were later shot dead inside the compound.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that following consultations with security officials, the site would be reopened Sunday afternoon with increased security measures that included metal detectors at the entrance gates and additional security cameras.

At midday, Israeli police opened two of the gates to the compound to allow worshippers to enter through the newly erected detectors.

Israel did not coordinate the changes with Jordan, which serves as the custodian of the Muslim-administered site, according to a Jordanian government official.

Jordan’s stance is that anything installed at the site must be approved by the Waqf, or Muslim administration, and cannot change the status quo, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the still developing situation with reporters.

Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Adnan Husseini called for the security arrangements to revert to how they were before the deadly attack, saying it “shouldn’t be an excuse for making changes.”

The attack triggered a rare phone conversation between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned the attack and called for the site to be reopened. Netanyahu sought to allay Muslim fears, saying that the status quo at the Muslim-administered site “will be preserved.”

But Gaza’s Hamas rulers called the act one of a “religious war” and urged Palestinians to carry out more attacks.

In the past two years, Palestinians have killed 45 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British tourist in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks.

During that same period, Israeli forces have killed more than 255 Palestinians, most of them said by Israel to be attackers while others were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.

MAHMOUD ILLEAN / AP Israeli police stand guard as Muslim men pray outside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Sunday. Newly installed metal detectors are at right.