Police entered the compound to disperse Muslim protesters who had holed up in the mosque and hurled rocks, concrete blocks and firebombs at security forces.
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Masked protesters threw stones towards the gate when regular visits to the site began on Tuesday morning, police said.
“The members of the Security Council called for the exercise of restraint, refraining from provocative actions and rhetoric, and upholding unchanged the historic status quo” at the compound “in word and in practice”, the statement read. It left Al-Aqsa under the religious control of Muslim authorities, but Palestinians fear that control is being eroded by increasing visits by Jewish groups.
In his latest diatribe, the PA leader addressed “violence on Har Habayis”, as if the violence is being precipitated by Israel and Jewish visitors. “Instead of calming tensions, the Council sides with those who are trying to set the region on fire”.
“Muslim and Christian holy places in East Jerusalem are a red line”, said Abbas, adding, “We will not stand idly by before these assaults”.
The United Nations Security Council is expressing “grave concern”, after violence this week at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compund and the surrounding Old City, and is calling for restraint and calm. Salman “expressed strong condemnation of the unsafe Israeli escalation” at the holy site where Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli police for three straight days, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
In separate telephone calls with President Abbas, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, emir of Qatar; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; President Francois Hollande of France, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, King Salman stressed the necessity to exert serious and rapid global efforts as well as the necessity for the intervention of the UN Security Council in taking urgent measures to stop Israel’s violation of Al-Aqsa sanctity.
The developments come as Palestinians say Tel Aviv is planning to change the status quo of al-Quds and Judaize the city. The location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism. Limited visits to the site were later allowed to go ahead.
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Women of all ages will be allowed into the compound.
