The ban did not apply to Palestinians who live, work and study within the Old City, or Israelis or tourists.
Advertisement
Blocking Israeli politicians from the compound would be aimed at lowering tensions and reducing the level of Palestinian violence.
JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not want a spike in violence in East Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank to spiral into armed conflict with Israel, he said on Tuesday.
Lina from Students for Justice in Palestine slammed the horrific nature of the recent killing by Israelis of 19-year old Palestinian Fadi Samir Mustafa Alloun in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said 288 Palestinians were hurt in Wednesday’s clashes, including 10 by live fire. Netanyahu denies the claims, describing them as slander aimed at inciting Arabs to violence.
Israeli police have raided the site and fired tear gas and stun grenades at masked youths throwing stones and firebombs while barricading themselves inside the mosque itself.
In Wednesday’s first attack, an Israeli man in his 30s was stabbed from behind in his upper body, sustaining moderate injuries, as he walked near the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police said. Israeli police then arrived at the scene and shot the man dead.
The ban was put in place due to a number of alleged attacks on Israelis, but an Israeli police spokeswoman said it had since been lifted due to “security assessments”. They have been putting intense pressure on Netanyahu to respond to the surge in violence with a tough crackdown and increased settlement activity.
Palestinian activists clash with police as they protest the force feeding of detainee Muhammad Allan at Brazilai hospital on August 16, 2015 in Ashkelon, Israel.
Abbas insisted the Palestinians are not interested in a further escalation.
Palestinian assailants carried out a series of stabbings across Israel on Wednesday, jolting an anxious country unnerved by weeks of unrest as clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian demonstrators raged across the West Bank. But aides to Netanyahu said on Wednesday he had cancelled the trip because of the precarious security situation.
Israeli authorities were not immediately available for comment.
Anger is boiling among Palestinians, meanwhile, over a string of deaths at the hands of Israeli security forces, attacks by Jewish settlers and restrictions imposed by Israel on access to a Jerusalem holy site.
Advertisement
The victim, a 25-year-old Israeli man, was taken to a hospital in the central Israeli city 6 1/2 miles east of Tel Aviv. He said the decision was “unfathomable” and that he would take the issue up directly with Netanyahu. Israel says it carries out such demolitions to deter future attacks.
