Israel "will not change" the status quo on the esplanade of the Mosques of Jerusalem, according to which Muslims can pray at this holy place but not the faithful of other religions, declared Sunday the head of Israeli diplomacy.
“Muslims pray on the Temple Mount, non-Muslims can only visit.
There is no change, and there will be no change,” Yaïr Lapid told the foreign press after days of violence on the Esplanade des Mosques, the third holiest site in Islam, also considered as the holiest place in Judaism under its name "Temple Mount".
A decision that follows many clashes
After deadly attacks in Israel, including two perpetrated by Palestinians, then heavy-handed operations by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank, violence erupted in mid-April at the esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem, raising fears of a new escalation. violence between Israel and Palestinian armed movements.
Still on Friday, more than 50 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police, who said they intervened after young “rioters” threw stones from the esplanade towards the Wailing Wall below .
The esplanade of the Mosques is located in the eastern, Palestinian portion of Jerusalem, occupied since 1967 by the Jewish state.
This Muslim holy site is administered by Jordan, but its access is controlled by Israel.
The deployment of Israeli police forces to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and occasionally to the local Al-Aqsa Mosque, is “justified” given the circumstances, Lapid said.
"The police intervened because there were hundreds of rioters dispatched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad," Lapid said.
“I believe [that this deployment] was justified because it averted a disaster (…) in fact it saved lives,” Lapid said as Israeli authorities fear new tensions in Jerusalem.
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Jerusalem: More than a hundred injured in clashes between demonstrators and police on the Esplanade of the Mosques
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Israelo-Palestinian conflict