The head of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah called Israel’s removal of metal detectors from Temple Mount entrances a victory in a televised speech Wednesday, even as Muslim leaders have said that the move is not enough and vowed to continue protests.
Israel’s security cabinet has decided to remove metal detectors set up at the entrance to a Jerusalem holy site which had angered Muslims.
The Arab League will hold an urgent meeting on Thursday to discuss the escalating crisis surrounding Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, amid widespread unrest in the Israeli capital and the West Bank.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has declared its support for the Palestinian campaign against Israeli control of Jerusalem’s holy sites, describing new Israeli security measures at the Temple Mount as a “corrosive act in the midst of an already-fragile peace.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke by phone late Thursday with Jared Kushner, senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, reportedly to ask that the White House pressure Israel to remove metal detectors installed at the Temple Mount following last Friday’s deadly terror attack.
Israel’s security authorities were set to flood the streets of Jerusalem on Friday with policeman and soldiers in an attempt to quell expected violence at protests over increased security measures at the Temple Mount compound in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Clashes between Muslim protesters and Israeli police erupted Wednesday at one of the entrances to Jerusalem’s Old City for the fourth day in a row over new security measures at the Temple Mount following a recent terror attack.
Dozens of Muslims protesters clashed with police outside of Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday amid continued tensions over new security measures put in place at the entrance to the Temple Mount after Friday’s terror attack.
On Friday, three gunmen shot and killed two police officers at the most volatile spot on Earth, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Several Muslims protested the addition of metal detectors at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount compound in Old Jerusalem, which reopened Sunday after a deadly attack two days earlier.
Jerusalem remains on high alert after terrorists killed two border police men at the Temple Mount compound on Friday morning. Israeli police imposed a closure on the compound and only reopened the Temple Mount after security measures were introduced on Sunday leading to increased tensions in the city.
Senior Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub said on Saturday evening that Palestinians recognize that in any peace agreement the Western Wall should stay under Israeli sovereignty but the Temple Mount should not.
A video that will be published in the coming days by the Temple Mount Movement, which is working for the rights of Jews on the Temple Mount and aspires to build the third Jewish Temple, is asking Muslims to evacuate the compound this coming Monday to allow the performance of the Passover sacrifice.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem is fuming over a draft decision distributed on Thursday by representatives of the European Union at meetings of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Istanbul on the subject of the Israeli capital’s Old City that completely ignores the Jewish connection to the site.
Israeli policemen clashed with stone throwing young Muslims on Monday morning at the compound flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem known to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa mosque but to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, David Lau, said he would like to see the Jewish temple rebuilt on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Demonstrating a new level of tension with Israel, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority declared on Wednesday that his people were no longer bound by mutual agreements with Israel, including the Oslo Peace Accords, which created the foundation for the Middle East peace process.
Rioting continued for a second day on the Temple Mount on Monday, following violence at the holy site during the Muslim Id al-Adha festival a day earlier.
Dozens of police officers entered the Temple Mount complex early Monday morning after dozens of Palestinians holed up in al-Aksa mosque began hurling stones and firebombs at them, police said.
The Palestinian Authority, Jordan and the Arab League slammed the Israeli government for an operation during which police officers found pipe bombs on the Temple Mount in the Old City in Jerusalem on Sunday.