Ramallah – Confrontations between angry Palestinians and Israeli security forces continued on Monday, as Occupation authorities began installing iron barricades in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque, as an alternative measure to the electronic gates, which have instigated the crisis in Jerusalem.
Israeli police had installed smart and advanced cameras before setting up the iron pathways, which were believed to be new procedures to replace the e-gates.
Meanwhile, Palestinian worshipers have refused, for the tenth consecutive day, to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque via e-gates, choosing instead to pray outside the mosque and in the streets of Jerusalem.
Religious, national and community authorities in the occupied city of Jerusalem have reiterated their rejection of all Israeli measures and attempts to impede the freedom of worship and the Islamic sovereignty over the mosque.
A new statement issued by Palestinian religious and national authorities on Monday said: “In the face of intransigence and the insistence of the occupation authorities on escalating arbitrary measures against Al-Aqsa Mosque and the citizens of Jerusalem, the authorities stress their commitment to face these illogical measures, and to reject all attempts to impose the rule of occupation on Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Confrontations also broke out in other areas of Jerusalem, as well as in Ramallah and the West Bank.
A Palestinian committed a knife attack in the town of Petah Tikva in the center of Israel, against an Arab-Israeli victim, who was mistaken for a Jew.
“I did it for Al-Aqsa,” the perpetrator said during his interrogation.
The new attack came at a time when Israeli security services are facing increasing pressure following a previous stabbing in the Halmish settlement near Ramallah and another similar attack at the Israeli embassy in Jordan that has sparked a Jordanian-Israeli diplomatic crisis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held security consultations and said he would contact the Jordanian King in an attempt to contain the situation.
In this regard, the Israeli Security and Political Security Council met three times since Sunday, in an attempt to make decisions regarding Al-Aqsa and the new crisis with Jordan.
Meanwhile, Israel’s opposition leader and former foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, warned that the country was on the verge of a religious battle with the Muslim world.
Speaking to local media, Livni said Israel was “a step away” from turning its conflict against the Palestinians into a “pan-Muslim event” against the state of Israel. She called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to take firm measures in order to prevent the deterioration of the current situation.
In Gaza Strip, two missiles were launched against Israel in less than 12 hours. In response, the Israeli artillery fired two shells at two different locations in the south and central Gaza, causing severe material damage.