Men under 50 were banned!
The main prayer session at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque ended more quietly on Friday than expected with Israel setting an age limit on who could attend after two weeks of violent protests over tougher Israeli security measures.
Extra police stood guard throughout the walled Old City, some wearing riot gear, some on horseback, in anticipation of mass protests. But aside from a few hotspots where Palestinian protestors briefly clashed with Israeli officers, serious violence did not recur.
Throughout Friday Israel limited entry to the mosque compound, a raised marble-and-stone plaza referred to by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount, to men over the age of 50. Women of all ages were allowed in.
Tensions soared at the venue, often erupting into fierce clashes, after two Israeli police officers were shot dead on July 14 by gunmen who had hidden weapons inside the Aqsa compound, prompting Israel to install metal detectors at the entrance to the site. A Muslim boycott ensued.
Under immense diplomatic pressure Israel removed the metal detectors on Thursday, a move welcomed by the Arab world, but disturbances quickly resumed when thousands of Muslim worshippers surged back into the mosque.
A few thousand people made their way to Al-Aqsa for Friday prayers, police said, while a younger crowd remained outside and worshipped in narrow side streets. When the prayer session ended those congregated left the area peacefully, for the most part.
Television footage showed some brief confrontations involving a group of Palestinians, a number of them throwing bottles, and police dispersing them with stun grenades.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City and the holy compound, in the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed the area in a move that has never been recognized internationally.
Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, sits on a tree-lined plateau in the heart of the Old City. It is also the holiest place in Judaism – the venue of two ancient temples, the last destroyed by the Romans. Jews pray under heavy security at the Western Wall at the foot of the elevated plaza.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a Palestinian armed with a knife charged at Israeli soldiers and was shot dead, the military said.
