European Union urges Israel, Jordan to cooperate on security in Jerusalem

Israel’s security cabinet decided in the early hours of yesterday morning to dismantle metal detectors at the entrances to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the installation of which last week led to the boycott by Palestinians.

It is known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, where the Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located, and to Jews as Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism, where ancient temples once stood.

Three Palestinians were killed in clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians around the Old City, in other parts of annexed east Jerusalem and in the occupied West Bank. A 20-year-old Palestinian entered the West Bank settlement of Halamish, stabbing an Israeli father and his two children to death as the family sat down for their Shabbat, or Sabbath, dinner.

– Four Palestinians were killed in ongoing demonstrations against Israeli security forces Friday and Saturday.

Sabri says newly installed security cameras, described in media reports as a possible alternative to the metal detectors, were discussed.

The spasm of violence began on Friday, when Israeli security forces shot three demonstrators dead, Palestinian medics said. Jews revere the esplanade as the site of their destroyed biblical Temples, and the holiest site in their religion.

The Palestinian opposition to the metal detectors at the Temple Mount means one thing only: that the Palestinians are determined to turn the holy site into a weapons cache and use it as a launching pad to carry out terror attacks against Israelis.

The Islamic Waqf, which runs the holy site and has called for Muslims to pray outside Al-Aqsa until the metal detectors are removed, has said it would only accept a return to the previous arrangements.

Three Arab Israelis named by the Shin Bet as responsible for shooting dead two Israeli police officers next to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on July 14, 2017: Muhammad Ahmed Muhammad Jabarin, 29; Muhammad Hamad Abdel Latif Jabarin, 19 and Muhammad Ahmed Mafdal Jabarin, 19.

I told Al Jazeera English that the metal detectors were only the spark for the protests.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet on Sunday evening.

The Foreign Press Association says journalists have been shoved and it has created “a unsafe situation” where accredited journalists were blocked from doing their jobs.

“Israel, with its disregard for the rule of law, not only harms itself but also the whole region”, Erdogan was quoted by state-run Anadolu Agency as saying. He says mass prayer protests would continue outside the site until the gates of the compound were opened and the metal railings and an iron bridge with cameras on it were removed.

The Israeli security guard killed the two Jordanians after being attacked by one of them with a screwdriver late on Sunday.

The compromise formula may be an Israeli agreement that the security guard will be questioned by an Israeli lawyer or another actor acceptable to Israel – and will share his testimony while the Jordanians can watch the interrogation.

Meanwhile, Palestinian politicians and Muslim clerics demanded that Israel restore the situation at the shrine in Jerusalem’s Old City to what it was before July 14.

Al-Ayyam added Italy underscored the need that Israel respects the longstanding status quo in the mosque compound.

Finally, al-Hayat al-Jadida said Fatah movement expressed dismay with the Quartet’s statement on the situation in East Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Israel has said the metal detectors are a needed security measure to prevent future attacks.

It is in east Jerusalem, seized by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move never recognised by the global community.