3 Palestinians, 3 Israelis die in renewed violence
Standoff continues over metal detectors in Old City of Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — The IsraeliPalestinian conflict erupted anew Friday, causing bloodshed on both sides after a tense, weeklong standoff over Israel’s placement of metal detectors at entrances to the sacred Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Three Israelis were killed in an apparent terrorist attack in a West Bank settlement hours after three Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.
According to initial reports, a Palestinian entered a home in the Halamish settlement Friday night, fatally stabbed three civilians — two men and a woman— and wounded another woman, before being shot at the scene.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the dead protesters as Muhammad Mahmoud Sharaf, 17, from the mostly Palestinian neighborhood of Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem; Muhammad Abu Ghanam, from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of At-Tur, which is on the Mount of Olives; and Muhammad Lafi, 18, from Abu Dis, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Israeli police said rioters threw rocks and firebombs and set off fireworks in the direction of the security forces, endangering them.
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, who had cut short a trip to China to handle the spiraling crisis over the metal detectors, announced late Friday that he was freezing contacts with Israel at all levels until it canceled the new measures around the Jerusalem holy site.
It was not immediately clear if the suspension included the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with Israel, a crucial vestige of the relationship between the two sides. Peace talks have been at an impasse for years.
The clashes came as thousands of Palestinian Muslims prayed in front of police barricades in the streets around the Old City of Jerusalem after a tense, weeklong standoff over the metal detectors and other restrictions.
The metal detectors were introduced after a brazen attack on the morning of July 14, when three armed Arab citizens of Israel emerged from Al-Aqsa mosque and fatally shot two Israeli Druze police officers who were guarding an entrance to the compound. The assailants ran back inside the courtyard and were killed after an exchange of fire with other officers, who had pursued them.
In a rare move, after the attack, Israel temporarily closed the contested and volatile holy site, which is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, and emptied it of all workers while police conducted searches.
The Israeli government’s decision to introduce metal detectors when the site reopened rapidly became a source of friction and a symbolic rallying cry in the contest for control and sovereignty over the sacred compound. In an extraordinary turn, members of the Waqf, the Muslim trust that administers the site, called for a boycott of prayers there for as long as the metal detectors remained in place.
According to Israeli police, only a few dozen worshippers entered the compound for prayers Friday. Earlier in the day, bracing for a possible eruption of violence, police announced that only men over the age of 50 would be allowed access. (Women of all ages were permitted.)
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, described the placement of metal detectors, as well as security cameras, at the entrances to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound as “a flagrant violation of the rights and freedoms of Palestinian Muslim worshippers.”