Israel barred men under 50 from Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound site in occupied Jerusalem after two weeks of tensions and deadly unrest, leading thousands of Palestinians to hold mass prayers outside.
Thousands of others entered the Haram al-Sharif compound for prayers after Palestinians ended a boycott of the site the previous day.
Despite fears of violent clashes around the compound, which includes Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the area was largely calm following Friday’s midday prayers.
Dozens of young Palestinians shouted and protested near one entrance to the compound and minor scuffles broke out with police.
Clashes did however erupt between Israeli forces and Palestinians in parts of the occupied West Bank, including in the Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron areas, the Israeli army said.
A Palestinian also tried to stab soldiers at a junction in the West Bank and was shot dead by Israeli forces, the army said.
And Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager and wounded seven others during clashes near the border fence in Gaza, Palestinian authorities in the enclave said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 225 Palestinians were wounded, including at least 87 from live or rubber bullets.
Tensions at the holy site were high - even after thousands of worshippers returned to the compound on Thursday, ending a boycott over new security measures set up following an attack that killed two policemen.
The outside prayers yesterday were due to the Israeli age restrictions and were not the start of a new boycott, after Israel removed the security measures this week.
“It was a victory for you and for your beliefs and for Jerusalem,” Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohamed Ahmad Hussein told worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque of the boycott.
Police earlier said there were “indications that disturbances and demonstrations will take place today”, prompting them to bar men under 50 from praying there.
Roads around Jerusalem’s Old City, where the mosque compound is located, were closed and some 3,500 police were deployed.
Police said they had also removed a number of people who attempted to stay inside Al-Aqsa Mosque overnight.
“It is a cowardly act,” Amjad Hassoun, a young man from Jerusalem, said of the age restriction.
Meanwhile, Dr Saeb Erekat, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO, affirmed that the steadfastness of the Palestinians, especially the residents of occupied Jerusalem, led to obliging the Israeli occupation authority to cancel all the measures carried out at the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque since July 14.
Erekat said, in a statement yesterday, these unjust and repulsive Israeli measures were aimed at imposing temporal and spatial division on Al-Aqsa Mosque, noting that the plans of the Israeli occupation failed because of the sacrifices of the Palestinian people.
He also stressed the need for the international community to make every effort to end the Israeli occupation and to realise the complete independence and sovereignty of the State of Palestine on the borders of June 4, 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital. Page 3


Mogherini: EU position on East Jerusalem unchanged
Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stressed that the EU’s positions have not changed with regard to the legal status of East Jerusalem as an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory as well as to the status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In a message to Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Mogherini stressed the EU’s full commitment to the two-state solution and making strong efforts, including special efforts with its international partners, to maintain and defend the two-state solution as well as to putting the establishment of a Palestinian state at the top of the EU’s priorities.



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