West Bank attack: Three Israelis stabbed to death

A still photo carried by Israeli television showed a kitchen floor completely red with blood.

The latest escalation was triggered by metal detectors, installed by Israel at the shrine after a deadly Palestinian attack there. Two Israeli officers were shot dead in that attack and a third injured. “This is the first time we have seen a large-scale incursion into the hospital”, he said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut short a trip to China on Wednesday to return to the occupied West Bank to deal with the mounting tensions.

Abbas said contacts with Israel would be suspended on “all levels”. Israeli security forces killed the assailants.

There have been daily demonstrations and clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians. Police responded with tear gas.

Worshipers threw stones and glass bottles at Israeli policemen near the holy site, where tens of thousands are expected on Friday for a mass prayer that could turn violent. “We are steadfast and we will not back off”.

Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Muslim religious authorities claim the metal detectors violate a delicate agreement on worship and security arrangements at the Jerusalem site and have urged Palestinians not to pass through.

Hundreds held midday prayers near the gates of the Old City in protest.

The Old City protests since then have devolved into daily rioting and clashes with police and spread to other Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

A statement issued by Israeli police officials announced that “Entry to the Old City and Temple Mount, will be limited to men aged 50 and over”.

The city’s top Muslim cleric, Mohammed Hussein, told worshippers Friday that he expects a “long test of wills” with Israel. “There might be a reassessment, I think it depends on what happens in the next few hours and also after the evening prayers because it is so volatile”.

In a rare sight, worshippers filled Salah el Din street, an East Jerusalem commercial thoroughfare just outside Herod’s Gate, as demonstrators chanted, “Oh armies, destroy their thrones” and “Rattle the knife”.

The ministry also said at least 400 people had been hospitalized.

Israeli police said five officers were wounded.

Muslim Palestinians have been praying on the streets outside the mosque complex since the weekend. Jews can visit, but not pray there. Waqf religious leaders have refused to enter through the detectors which have been set up as part of the security clampdown.

Muslim leaders had urged the faithful not to enter the sacred compound until Israel removes the detectors, portraying Israel’s measures as an encroachment on Muslim rights – a charge Israel denies.

Israel insists it has no intention of changing the status quo, and says metal detectors are widely used to secure holy sites around the world. “Make no mistake, Al-Aqsa is not without its defenders”, Bülent Gürpınar said, reading a statement on behalf of protestors. The crisis appears destined to escalate, precisely because the metal detectors have remained.

“It’s in the interest of everybody – Islam, Judaism, governments, people, Jews and Palestinians – to try to protect these holy places better than they were protected before the act of terror”, he said. Amid pressure to defuse the tension, Israel in recent days had been holding quiet talks with Jordan, which is the official custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

On Friday, several thousand Jordanians protested against Israel in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

Abbas called on Palestinian factions, especially Islamic Hamas Movement to “unite the compass towards Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa and defend our sanctities and our national project”.

Action is required to quell the Israeli prime minister, who seems intent on stirring up trouble. Speaking in Ankara after Friday prayers, he called Israel’s security measures “radical”, saying limits imposed on Muslim prayers would not contribute to a solution.