He said whoever deploys violence will be brought to justice. An Arab stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli man in Jerusalem before being arrested, police said, the latest in a spate of knife attacks on Israelis.
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Four Israelis have been killed in stabbings in Jerusalem and a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank in the past week.
The Palestinian security services are continuing close coordination with their Israeli counterparts, say Israeli sources. The ban did not apply to Palestinians who live, work and study within the Old City, or Israelis or tourists.
Samri said police are on high alert.
“These actions are mostly not organised, but they are all the result of wild and untruthful incitement from Hamas, from the Palestinian Authority, from several neighbouring counties and, no less, from the Islamic Movement in Israel”.
Palestinians regularly accuse Israel of placing Arabic-speaking infiltrators among demonstrators.
The alleged attacks however also come in the wake of aggressive moves by Israel, including barring Palestinians from entering Jerusalem’s Old City and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
An assailant stabs and wounds an Israeli soldier in the northern town of Afula.
Many undercover Israeli soldiers join Palestinian protests as agent provocateur and incite protesters to hurl stones at Israeli soldiers, then they draw their guns and start helping their fellow military members in arresting the protesters.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops clashed with Palestinians in the West Bank, with two Palestinians who suffered serious injuries near the settlement of Beit El near Ramallah taken for treatment in Israeli hospitals.
A second Israeli, believed to be a security guard, was injured while arresting the Palestinian attacker, the police said.
In all, the Palestinian Red Crescent reports that 399 Palestinians were wounded Wednesday in incidents in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The spike in violence has brought worldwide calls for calm, with concerns the unrest could spin out of control and escalate into a new intifada like those of 1987-93 and the early 2000s. He said of the current terror wave: “We will not allow harm to the security of Israeli citizens and for their lives to be disrupted”.
The metal detectors were ordered by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.
Blocking Israeli politicians from the compound would be aimed at lowering tensions and reducing the level of Palestinian violence.
The clashes coincide with celebrations for the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, often a tense period because of increased visits by Jews to the compound, which they call the Temple Mount. The hilltop compound is revered by Muslims as the spot where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and by Jews as the site of the two Jewish biblical temples.
He insisted the Palestinians were not interested in a further escalation but that his “hands are with those who are protecting al-Aqsa mosque”. Arab lawmakers’ planned visit on Friday, when many Muslims attend weekly prayers there, will test enforcement of the ban. Netanyahu has said repeatedly he is committed to the status quo.
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Visits to the site had increased during the three-week Jewish holiday that began on September 13 and ended on October 5.
