(MENAFN- Arab Times) JERUSALEM, July 22, (Agencies): Six people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest spate of Israeli-Palestinian violence for years, prompted by new security Israeli measures at Jerusalem's holiest site.
Three Israelis were stabbed to death in a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, hours after three Palestinians were killed in violence prompted by Israel's installation of metal detectors at entry points to the Noble Sanctuary-Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City.
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.
Suspension
'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.
The three Israelis stabbed to death and a fourth who was wounded were from the fenced-in West Bank settlement of Neve Tsuf. Israeli media said the three dead were all members of the same family, two men aged 60 and 40 and a woman of 40.
The wounded woman, 68, was hospitalised with stab wounds to her back, Israeli media said.
A still photo carried by Israeli television showed a kitchen floor completely red with blood. The family had sat down to a traditional Friday evening meal when the attack occurred, according to Israel Radio.
The Israeli army and media said the assailant slipped into the settlement under cover of darkness to carry out his attack.
Israel Radio identified him as a 19-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Khobar near Ramallah. It said he was shot, but his condition was not initially known.
Earlier, Palestinian worshippers clashed with Israeli security forces. Tensions had mounted for days as Palestinians hurled rocks and Israeli police used stun grenades after the detectors were placed outside the sacred venue, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Mohammed Sharaf, 17, and Mohammad Hassan Abu Ghannam, age unknown, died of gunshot wounds in two neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem somewhat away from the epicentre of tension in the walled Old City. It reported a third Palestinian fatality, Mohammed Lafi, 18, later.
It was not immediately clear who fired the shots, with unconfirmed media reports that an Israeli settler was responsible in Sharaf's death.
Israel decided to install the metal detectors at the entry point to the shrine in Jerusalem's walled Old City on Sunday, after the killing of two Israeli policemen on July 14.
The shrine includes the al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, and the golden Dome of the Rock. It was also the site of an ancient Jewish temple, the holiest place in Judaism.
Despite international pressure to remove the metal detectors, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet decided in Friday's early hours to keep them in place, saying they were needed to prevent arms being smuggled into the shrine.
In protest, thousands of worshippers gathered for Friday prayers at various entrances to the sacred compound, which sits on a marble and stone plateau in the Old City.
They refused to enter, preferring to pray outside, in some cases filling the narrow alleyways of the Old City's Muslim quarter.
'We reject Israeli restrictions at the Aqsa Mosque,' said Jerusalem's senior Muslim cleric, Grand Mufti Mohammad Hussein.
Muslim leaders and Palestinian political factions had urged the faithful to gather for a 'day of rage' on Friday against the new security policies, which they see as changing delicate agreements that have governed the holy site for decades.
Israeli police mobilised extra units and erected barriers to carry out checks at entrances to the Old City. Access to the shrine for Muslims was limited to men over 50 but open to women of all ages. Roadblocks were in place on approach roads to Jerusalem to stop buses carrying Muslims to the site.
At one location near the Old City, stone throwers did try to break through a police line, and police used stun grenades to drive them back.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said four officers were injured in the sporadic clashes and the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said at least 377 protesters had been hurt, some suffering from tear gas inhalation.
The hilltop compound has long been a source of religious friction. Since Israel captured and annexed the Old City, including the compound, in the 1967 Middle East war, it has also become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. 'This is our place of prayer, we have sovereignty here,' Salaam said.
Appealed
On Thursday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to press for the removal of the metal detectors. Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East, appealed for calm and the White House called for a resolution. Jordan, the custodian of the holy site, has also been involved in mediation efforts.
But Netanyahu's 11-member security cabinet opted in a late-night meeting to retain the metal detectors to ensure no weapons were smuggled in, a week after three Arab-Israeli gunmen shot dead two Israeli policemen in the vicinity of the complex.
Three Israelis were stabbed to death and clashes left three Palestinians killed Friday as tensions rose over new security measures at a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site where police restricted access for Muslim prayers.
As Israeli and Palestinian leaders faced pressure to respond, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced late Friday he was freezing contacts with Israel over the holy site dispute.
The unrest came after Israeli ministers decided not to order the removal of metal detectors erected at entrances to the Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, following an attack nearby a week ago that killed two policemen.
In anticipation of protests on Friday, Israeli police barred men under 50 from entering the Old City in annexed east Jerusalem for prayers, while all women were allowed in.
Police said later in the day that discretion could be applied in the use of the metal detectors instead of forcing everyone to go through them.
But Palestinian and religious leaders still called on worshippers not to enter until the devices were removed.
Hundreds held prayers in the streets near the gates of the Old City in protest. According to police, dozens of people entered the compound.
Crowds
Crowds gathered outside Jerusalem's Old City found shops closed and streets around Damascus Gate — the entrance most heavily used by Palestinians — blocked.
Police later fired stun grenades and tear gas towards protesters outside the Old City, while Palestinians threw stones and other objects at security forces in some areas.
One Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli gunfire in the A-Tur neighbourhood of east Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
A second Palestinian was killed by gunfire in east Jerusalem, while a third was shot dead in Abu Dis in the occupied West Bank, the ministry said, without providing details.
Israel's army confirmed it was involved in clashes in Abu Dis.
In the evening, a Palestinian broke into a home in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and stabbed four Israelis, killing three of them, the Israeli army said.
The assailant, believed to be 20, was shot in the incident and taken to hospital, but his condition was unclear.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 450 people were wounded in Jerusalem and the West Bank throughout the day, including 170 from live or rubber bullets.
Medics reported another 40 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli police reported 29 arrests in Jerusalem and the West Bank, adding that five officers were lightly injured, coming under attack with stones and fireworks.
Tensions have risen since police installed the metal detectors in a move Palestinians and other Muslims perceive as a means for Israel to boost its control over the compound containing the revered Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock.
The controversy has resonated beyond Israel and the Palestinian territories, with the United States and the UN Middle East envoy expressing concern.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas spoke with US counterpart Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, urging the White House to intervene, the Palestinians' official Wafa news agency reported.
He later announced he was freezing contacts with Israel over the security measures at the holy site.
Abbas called the measures 'falsely presented as a security measure to take control over Al-Aqsa mosque'.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed the metal detectors were intended to ensure the safety of worshippers and visitors and not an attempt to disturb the fragile status quo under which Jordan is custodian of the site and Jewish prayer is forbidden.
Palestinians have been refusing to enter the compound all week in protest at the metal detectors.
The main weekly prayers on Fridays draw the largest number of worshippers — typically thousands — and speculation had been mounting that Netanyahu might order the metal detectors removed.
But after consultations with security chiefs and members of his security cabinet, Netanyahu decided not to do so.
The metal detectors were put in place following a gun and knife attack near the holy compound that killed two Israeli policemen on July 14.
Three Arab Israeli assailants fled to the compound after the attack, where they were shot dead by security forces.
Israeli police said the weapons were smuggled into the holy site which was then used as the launchpad for the attack.
Israel initially closed the compound for two days following the attack in a highly unusual move, shutting it for last Friday's prayers.
Israel began reopening it on Sunday, but with metal detectors in place to prevent weapons being smuggled inside.
The Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It lies in east Jerusalem, seized by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community.
It is considered the third holiest site in Islam and the most sacred for Jews.
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