Tel Aviv/Ramallah - Two Palestinians were shot dead and 200
wounded during clashes with Israeli police in and around Jerusalem in
reaction to controversial new security measures at a flashpoint holy
site, which Palestinians say limits access.
Israel recently tightened security in Jerusalem's Old City and access
was restricted to the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the site known to Muslims as
the Noble Sanctuary and Jews as the Temple Mount.
The new security measures included Israeli metal detectors and
turnstiles introduced on Sunday to check Muslim worshippers entering
the site where two Israeli police officers were killed last week.
That attack has been followed by daily clashes.
Fearing protests after Friday prayers, Israel also barred men under
the age of 50 from entering the site to worship. There were no
restrictions on women.
In protest, Palestinians conducted prayers nearby, outside the wall
of the Old City and also at West Bank military checkpoints bordering
Jerusalem.
Once the prayers were over, police moved towards the crowds gathered
in the East Jerusalem business district and at the checkpoints,
firing tear gas grenades and rubber bullets.
Israel said the response was prompted by the Palestinian crowds
attacking police after noon (0900 GMT) prayers.
One Palestinian youth was fatally shot, the Palestinian Maan news
agency reported, while a second young man was shot dead in East
Jerusalem by an Israeli settler. There was no immediate information
on the circumstances.
There was no confirmation of the deaths by the Israelis.
An estimated 200 Palestinians were injured in the clashes in
Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Washington to press
Israel to drop the new security measures.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Friday that
Abbas' plea came during a telephone call late Thursday with senior
White House advisor Jared Kushner.
Abbas warned that the situation at the site was "very critical" and
could spiral out of control, WAFA reported.
The Palestinian president cut short a visit abroad and returned home
early Friday to deal with the escalating crisis.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Islamist Hamas movement, urged Muslim
and Arab leaders to fulfil their duties in protecting the holy sites
in Jerusalem.
Haniyeh made his remarks in a Friday sermon to Palestinians, which
was aired on local television.
He addressed his comments to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and King Abdullah of Jordan. They are the heads of the Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation (OCI) and the League of Arab States,
respectively, which have oversight responsibility for Islamic holy
sites.
Haniyeh called Palestinian parties and movements to hold an urgent
meeting in Cairo or Beirut to agree on a "resistance."
Meanwhile, Jordanians staged a massive rally in their capital, Amman,
protesting against Israel's increased security measures, Jordan's
state news agency Petra reported.
Participants condemned the Israeli move and called on Arabs and
Muslims to unify their stances in support of the Noble Sanctuary,
Islam's third-holiest site.
Similar protests were conducted in other parts of Jordan following
noon prayers, the independent Jordanian newspaper al-Ghad reported
online.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi late Thursday urged Israel
to give worshippers "unrestricted and immediate" access to the site,
Petra reported.