Palestinian worshipers and Israeli police clashed Friday outside the Old City of Jerusalem amid tensions over Israeli authorities’ decision to bar male worshipers under 50 from entering the area for Friday prayers.
The unrest erupted outside Herod’s Gate as Israeli police stopped younger men from entering the Old City of Jerusalem and Temple Mount, also known as the Noble Sanctuary, allowing only male worshipers aged 50 and over and women to go through. The restrictions were imposed after a fatal shooting last week.
A CNN team saw Israeli police start forcefully pushing worshipers back and pointing their weapons at them. The officers then fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the worshipers and move them back.
Women are still allowed to enter the area regardless of age, as are tourists, police foreign press spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said earlier Friday.
Last Friday, two Israeli police officers were killed in a shooting by the Lions’ Gate in the Old City walls, next to what Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary and Jews the Temple Mount.
The Waqf, the Jordanian religious authority which administers the Temple Mount, has condemned the use of metal detectors to scan worshipers. Waqf religious leaders have refused to enter through the detectors which have been set up as part of the security clampdown.
Israeli police said they were working to ensure that Friday prayers, now underway, were able to continue while the heightened security measures are in place.
Temple Mount was closed after last Friday’s attack, and reopened Sunday for worshipers, visitors and tourists, with added security measures.
Rosenfeld said at the time that three armed assailants, whom he identified as terrorists, targeted police units in the area. One tried to stab a police officer, he said. The attackers were Israeli Arabs from Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to the slain police officers, naming them as Haiel Sitawe, 30, father to a 3-week old son, and Kamil Shnaan, 22. Both officers were from the Druze community, an Arabic-speaking religious minority.