Israel faces mounting anger over metal detectors at Jerusalem holy site

Palestinian protesters shout slogans during a demonstration in Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday. (AFP)

JERUSALEM,: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is weighing whether to remove metal detectors at a Jerusalem holy site whose installation after a deadly attack last week has stoked Palestinian protests, an Israeli Cabinet minister said on Thursday.
There have been nightly confrontations between Palestinians hurling rocks and Israeli police using stun grenades in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem since the devices were placed on Sunday at entrances to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Tensions remain high ahead of Friday prayers when thousands of Muslims usually flock to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the compound above Judaism’s sacred Western Wall.
Muslim religious authorities, who say the metal detectors violate a delicate agreement on worship and security arrangements at the site, have been urging Palestinians not to pass through, and prayers have been held near an entrance to the complex.
Netanyahu to hold security consultations
Netanyahu was due to hold security consultations over the issue, and likely decide on a course of action, on his return to Israel from visits to France and Hungary, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have publicly urged him to keep the devices in place at the flashpoint site, but Israeli media reports said security chiefs were divided over the issue amid concerns of wider protests in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
“The prime minister is considering whether to change this decision, and that’s his prerogative,” Erdan said on Army Radio. He described the equipment as a legitimate security measure.
Last Friday, three Arab-Israeli gunmen shot dead two Israeli policemen outside the holy complex in one of the most serious attacks in the area in years. The assailants were killed by security forces.
Israel briefly closed the compound and installed the metal detectors which it said were commonplace at religious sites worldwide.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank, in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital, a claim that is not recognized internationally.
Hamas vows to organize rallies
Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Hamas militant movement that rules Gaza, called on Palestinian demonstrators to confront Israeli troops along the enclave’s border on Friday in protest at the Israeli measure.
Assailant killed after trying to stab Israeli soldiers
An assailant tried to stab Israeli soldiers south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and was shot dead, the Israeli army said.
“An assailant armed with a knife attempted to stab (Israeli) soldiers at a checkpoint in Tekoa. In response to the immediate threat, forces fired shots toward the assailant,” a military statement said, with a spokeswoman confirming the suspect’s death to AFP.
No soldiers were reported wounded and no immediate details were available on the assailant’s identity. The vast majority of such cases have involved Palestinian attackers.
Last week, a Palestinian attempted to ram his car at soldiers manning the same checkpoint before exiting the vehicle armed with a knife and trying to stab the troops. He was shot dead.
A wave of unrest that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of at least 284 Palestinians or Arab Israelis, 44 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP toll.
Others were shot dead in protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.