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Bloomberg
Palestinians rejected Israel’s plan to defuse deadly tensions over a Jerusalem shrine revered by both Jews and Muslims, and threatened to escalate their protests with a “day of rage†on Friday.
Israel took down metal detectors from the Old City holy site on Tuesday but said it would replace them with other, unspecified technologies. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said cooperation with Israel on security and other matters will remain suspended until the status quo that prevailed before the devices’ July 14 installation is restored.
“We reject all the Israeli measures,†Sabri Sidam, a senior member of Abbas’s Fatah party, said after a meeting of Palestinian leaders late Tuesday. “Israel is trying to outsmart us and all its measures are unacceptable.†Israel installed the detectors after two Israeli policemen were killed by Israeli Arab gunmen at the shrine.
The Palestinian position dashed hopes that the detectors’ removal would put a quick end to the unrest over the hilltop compound known variously as Temple Mount or the Al-Aqsa mosque complex, which has claimed the lives of three Israelis and four Palestinians. It also boxes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into a corner since domestically he is regarded as having caved in to Palestinian violence. A Midgam poll showed that 77 percent of Israelis think Netanyahu capitulated, Channel 2 reported on Tuesday.
A resolution of the showdown is urgent because the compound is the most volatile piece of land in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The question of who controls it has been a flashpoint for prolonged violence in the past.
Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest shrine, and the compound is Judaism’s most sacred place. Under a complicated control structure reached after Israel captured the eastern sector of Jerusalem from the Jordanian military in the 1967 Middle East war, Israel is in charge of its security, but Jordan is the
religious custodian. Palestinians lay claim to all of East Jerusalem,
including the mount, for a future capital.
Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli security forces around the Old City late Tuesday, after the detectors were dismantled. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said there were no confrontations on Wednesday, and that some Muslims were entering the site to pray.