DHAKA: Three Palestinians in Jerusalem and three Israelis at West Bank settlement were killed in the separate attacks as Israeli-Palestinian rivalry mounted over the holy al-Aqsa mosque, reports The Gurdian.
A Palestinian entered a home in the Israeli settlement of Halamish in the West Bank after nightfall and stabbed three Israelis to death, the head of Israel’s rescue service said.
Earlier, three Palestinians were killed in Jerusalem amid escalating protests in the city and across Palestinian territories against new Israeli security measures at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex.
Two died in separate incidents in Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem after tense Friday prayers, during which thousands of Palestinians worshipped in the streets around the Old City after refusing to enter the compound – known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, which houses the al-Aqsa mosque. A third died later in Ramallah.
The compound is considered the third holiest site in Islam and the most sacred for Jews, who call it Temple Mount.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, ordered the suspension of all official contact with Israel until it removed the metal detectors. He gave no details but current contacts are largely limited to security cooperation.
“I declare the suspension of all contacts with the Israeli side on all levels until it cancels its measures at al-Aqsa mosque and preserves the status quo,” Abbas said in a brief televised speech.
It was not immediately clear if this means long-standing security coordination between Israeli troops and Abbas’s forces will be halted.
Metal detectors were installed by Israeli police after a deadly shootout inside the compound last Friday in which three Israeli-Arab gunmen killed two Israeli policemen at the Lions’ Gate entrance, before fleeing back inside and being killed by police.
Palestinians – and the Jordanian-administered religious institution, the Waqf, which takes care of the site – say the new security controls on worshippers represent a breach of the status quo.
Friday’s events came at the end of a tense week in Jerusalem. The Israeli decision to leave the metal detectors in place was taken after calls on Thursday for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to back down and remove the devices in order not to inflame the situation further.
In an additional controversial security measure, Israel restricted entry to the mosque area and Old City on Friday to men aged 50 and over and women. Police later fired stun grenades and teargas canisters toward protesters outside the Old City, while Palestinians threw stones and other objects at security forces.
BDST: 1011 HRS, JUL 22, 2017
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