Restrictions on access to mosque lifted

ISRAEL has lifted its tight restrictions on Palestinian access to Jerusalem’s holiest shrine and called off an extended West Bank closure after days of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

Despite moving yesterday to end the lockdown, Israel still kept thousands of police officers on alert as an uneasy calm settled over the holy city.

The recent violence has taken place against a backdrop of deep Palestinian frustration over a yearlong standstill in peace talks and dovetailed with the worst US-Israeli diplomatic feud in decades.

On Tuesday, the US and Israel signalled they were trying to move beyond the crisis that erupted when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 apartments in disputed east Jerusalem. Vice president Joe Biden, who visited last week, and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke by phone late on Tuesday night, Israeli officials said.

While there were no reports of new clashes in Jerusalem, sporadic violence broke out yesterday in the West Bank. The most serious incident occurred in the northern city of Nablus, where dozens of Palestinian youths hurled rocks at Israeli security forces.

Israeli troops responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Two Palestinians were wounded.

The protests are fuelled by the plans for Jewish housing and also unsubstantiated rumours that Jewish extremists are planning to seize the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third-holiest shrine.

East Jerusalem, which saw the heaviest clashes in months after similar rumours surfaced earlier this week, was quiet yesterday.

Israel lifted restrictions on access to al-Aqsa, a day after the heaviest violence in months broke out across the city. The Israelis said the decision was based on intelligence reports.

Israel also rescinded its closure of the West Bank that had prevented virtually all Palestinians there from crossing into Israel. Thousands enter Israel each day for work, medical care and other services.

The hilltop where al-Aqsa stands is also Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount, where the biblical Jewish temples once stood. The conflicting claims make the future of the holy city the most charged issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and immediately annexed the area. The Palestinians claim it as their capital.

The US has harshly criticised the latest Israeli construction plan. This week, Middle East envoy George Mitchell called off a trip to the area that had been expected to wrap up preparations for US-mediated talks to begin.