Israel says Jerusalem mosque metal detectors to stay

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it would not remove metal detectors whose installation outside a major Jerusalem mosque has triggered the bloodiest clashes with the Palestinians in years, but could eventually reduce their use.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security Cabinet on Sunday evening. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would halt security ties with Israel until it scraps the walk-through gates installed at entrances to Al-Aqsa mosque plaza after two police guards were shot dead on July 14.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office
in Jerusalem July 23, 2017.

Netanyahu's right-wing government is wary of being seen to yield to Palestinian pressure over the site, which Jews revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples. It was among areas of East Jerusalem that Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed as its capital, in a move not recognized internationally.

"They (metal detectors) will remain. The murderers will never tell us how to search the murderers," Tzachi Hanegbi, Israeli minister for regional development, told Army Radio.

"If they (Palestinians) do not want to enter the mosque, then let them not enter the mosque."

Incensed at what they perceive as a violation of delicate decades-old access arrangements at Islam's third-holiest site, many Palestinians have refused to go through the metal detectors, holding street prayers and often violent protests.

Reuters witnesses reported some light clashes between Muslim worshippers and Israeli security forces after prayers at the entrance to Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday night. Palestinian medical sources did not report any serious injuries.

The spike in tensions, and the deaths of three Israelis and four Palestinians in violence on Friday and Saturday, have triggered international alarm and prompted the United Nations Security Council to convene a meeting for Monday to seek ways of calming the situation.

Washington sent Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump's special representative for international negotiations, to Israel on Sunday evening in hopes of helping to reduce tensions, a senior administration official said.

"President Trump and his administration are closely following unfolding events in the region," the official said. "The United States utterly condemns the recent terrorist violence."

Two Jordanians were killed and an Israeli was wounded in a shooting incident on Sunday in a building inside the Israeli embassy complex in Jordan's capital, Amman, police and a security source said.

Details of what happened were unclear. Israel imposed a ban on reporting the incident and made no public comment.

Jordan has seen an outpouring of public anger against Israel in recent days, with Jordanian officials calling on it to remove the metal detectors at the Al-Aqsa mosque.