Old City ban ''Israeli escalation''

(MENAFN- Arab News)RAMALLAH Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian government denounced 'Israeli escalation' on Sunday after the Jewish state temporarily banned Palestinians from entering Jerusalem's Old City following attacks that killed two people and wounded a child.

'The Palestinian government denounces the Israeli escalation policy by Israeli occupation authorities against our people in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank' it said in a statement after the imposition of the two-day ban.
Clashes with Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers have left 77 Palestinians wounded from both live rounds and rubber bullets over the past 24 hours the Palestinian Red Crescent said Sunday.
The toll included 18 wounded from live rounds and 59 from rubber bullets Red Crescent spokeswoman Errab Foqaha said.
Another 139 have been treated for tear gas inhalation and six for injuries sustained in beatings by soldiers or settlers she said.
On Saturday night a Palestinian said to be a militant killed two Israeli men and wounded a woman and a toddler in a knife and gun attack in the Old City. Police shot dead the attacker. In a separate incident early Sunday a Palestinian stabbed and wounded a passerby in west Jerusalem before being shot dead by police while fleeing. The attacks came with Israeli security forces already on alert after recent disturbances. Worship at the sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound will be restricted to Old City residents and Arab Israelis and limited to men aged 50 and above. There will be no age restrictions on women. They will be allowed to enter through one specific gate.
A series of clashes have broken out in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank with tensions high following two Palestinian attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child.
Israeli police announced Sunday that Palestinians will be banned from accessing Jerusalem's Old City for two days after the twin attacks on Israelis which also left the perpetrators dead.
The move will affect the vast majority of Palestinians in annexed east Jerusalem who do not live inside the Old City meaning that only Israelis tourists residents of the area business owners and schoolchildren will be able to enter they said.