— Fighting between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police
continued in East Jerusalem last night,
in the deadliest violence the city has seen in more than two years.
Early Tuesday morning,
Israeli authorities removed disputed metal detectors from outside al-Aqsa Mosque.
The installation of the censors almost two weeks ago
triggered mass demonstrations by Palestinians
and outrage across the Muslim world—
where they were seen as an attempt by Israel to assert control over one of Islam’s most important holy sites.
But the protests have shown no signs of subsiding.
Jake Hanrahan has more from Jerusalem.
— As soon as the prayers finished here, in Jerusalem around al-Aqsa Mosque,
the police started firing stun grenades.
The protesters here, you can see them running—
it's absolutely chaos.
— In a conflict with no shortage of sensitivities,
there are few more delicate than those surrounding the al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.
It’s administered by the Palestinians, but access to the compound it’s in,
which also contains the sacred Jewish site of Temple Mount,
is managed by Israel.
This isn’t the first time it’s seen violent clashes.
In 2000, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s controversial visit to the compound
escalated the tension that led to the Second Intifada.
It’s against this historical backdrop
that Netanyahu ordered the installation of metal detectors
after two Israeli policeman were killed outside the Mosque on July 14th.
Jawad Siam is a prominent Palestinian activist.
He’s been coming to the site of the Mosque for days now to protest.
Despite the removal of the metal detectors,
Jawad and thousands of Palestinians like him say they’ll continue to protest.
— Netanyahu ignored warnings from senior security officials not to install the metal detectors,
egged on by Israel’s right-far-right coalition and keen to deflect from a personal political scandal.
After backtracking,
many Israelis are wary of appearing to give in to the Palestinians’ demands.
Netanyahu now faces a backlash even from his own party.
— Do you think it was a mistake for Netanyahu to decide to remove the metal detectors?
— The Palestinians say it's about the Israelis trying to control them, and not about security.
— There is a lot that divides Palestinians, but they’ve been united by this crisis.
Netanyahu’s latest demand
that all visitors to the Mosque must be searched before they can enter
is likely keep people on the streets.