Palestinian mourners attend the funeral of Moataz Hijazi in east Jerusalem on Friday. Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian suspected of an assassination attempt on a hardline campaigner for Jewish prayer rights at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The attack sent tensions in the city soaring to a new high.
AFP/Jerusalem
Israeli police deployed heavily around Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound as it reopened on Friday for Muslim prayers after a rare closure during clashes over the killing of a Palestinian by security forces.
The streets of east Jerusalem were calm before the prayers at midday but teeming with additional police, including many in riot gear, after an Israeli clampdown on the compound, which is holy for Muslims and Jews alike.
Clashes had erupted early on Thursday when Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian accused of trying to kill Yehuda Glick, a hardline rabbi linked to tensions at the compound.
The closure was the first for decades and prompted a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to condemn the move as an Israeli "declaration of war".
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said that because of fears of unrest at the midday prayers, entry for Muslim men would be restricted to those over 50.
Hundreds of police were seen manning a series of checkpoints leading from the Old City's outer gates all the way to the Al-Aqsa compound, an AFP correspondent said.
Ordinary and riot police officers checked identity papers of people passing between the barricades, both those on their way to pray at the site and those who worked nearby.
Female officers were deployed to stop and search Muslim women.
Zuheir Dana, 67, said he was unable to get from his shop to his home.
"I wanted just to get home, which is about 50 metres away from the Al-Aqsa compound, but police didn't let me through," he said.
"The police are stopping and searching whoever they please according to how they perceive the atmosphere. They're not letting in men over the age of 50, they're only letting in men over the age of 60.
"It's been bad every day here since Ramadan," he added.
Markets in the Old City, normally bustling on a Friday morning, were nearly deserted due to the security lockdown.
Additional police were deployed around the Al-Aqsa compound in the heart of the Old City, with media reporting the presence of some 3,000 officers, three times more than usual.
Clashes subsided late on Thursday with a few sporadic confrontations between stone-throwing Palestinians and police firing rubber bullets and tear gas. Three Palestinians were arrested, Samri said.
The funeral of Muataz Hijazi, who was suspected of shooting and critically wounding the rabbi on Wednesday night, passed off without incident, she added.
The hospital treating Glick said the Jewish hardliner's condition was slightly improved on Friday but that his life was still in danger.
Jerusalem has been shaken by months of unrest sparked by the murder of a Palestinian teenager in July in revenge for the killings of three Jewish teenagers in the West Bank.
