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AMMAN: Israel is installing further security measures in a sensitive holy site in East Jerusalem, witnesses told Arab News, despite the rapidly escalating confrontations with Palestinians over its claimed interference in the area.
Jerusalem has witnessed deadly clashes after Israeli authorities installed metal detectors at entrances to the Haram Al-Sharif compound, which includes the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque.
But it now faces provoking further anger after local officials reported further security measures being added.
Sheikh Wasif Al-Bakri, acting Islamic chief justice in Jerusalem, told Arab News that the metal-detector gates remain in place despite claims that they will soon be removed.
“What I can say is that the gates are still up and the latest development is the special laser cameras that Israel has erected at the Lions’ Gate,” Al-Bakri said.
Al-Bakri said he saw the cameras being set up himself.
Sheikh Omar Kiswani, the manager of Al-Aqsa Mosque, said that Israeli security personnel were cutting some tree branches to allow the newly erected cameras to be able to film freely.
The Arab League on Sunday accused Israel of “playing with fire” with the security measures at the holy site. “Jerusalem is a red line,” its chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a statement.
The Palestinian leadership’s decision on Friday to suspend communications with Israel “at all levels,” has included security coordination, according to Israeli military officials, who warn of a sharp escalation in the tensions in days and weeks to come.
A meeting of the 100-member Fatah Revolutionary Council in Ramallah Sunday declared support to the popular resistance, and vowed to stay in open session to follow up what is happening in Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine.
Installation of the electronic detection gates has also been blamed for preventing the prayers for the dead. A funeral for deceased Palestinian Nafez Abed Hamed was held on the pavement outside Lions’ Gate, after Israeli forces insisted that the coffin go through metal detectors, something the family of the deceased refused.
In a sign of the escalating tensions, a senior Jewish religious leader also escalated the rhetoric during a sermon at a synagogue in Jerusalem.
“Anyone who carries out an attack on Jews should be killed and not merely injured,” Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yousef said.
He was referring to the case of Palestinian Omar Al-Abed, who stabbed to death three Israeli settlers near Ramallah, and was injured when Israeli security intervened.