Israeli authorities removed metal detectors from Al-Aqsa Mosque before dawn on Tuesday and said they would no longer be used after their installation triggered deadly violence.
The move came in the face of intensive international diplomacy seeking to stop wider unrest, with Tel Aviv saying it would introduce subtler security measures instead.
A work crew removed the metal detectors from one entrance to the compound in the early hours, and cameras installed on overhead bridges in recent days were also gone, an AFP correspondent reported.
A few dozen Israeli security personnel stood quietly around the entrance, outside which Muslims have prayed for days in protest of the metal detectors.
Israeli security cabinet took the decision to remove the detectors early on Tuesday.
They decided “to change the inspection with metal detectors to a security inspection based on advanced technologies and other means,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
As word spread of the decision, a few hundred Palestinians gathered to celebrate near an entrance to the mosque compound.
Tensions erupted in the occupied territories on July 14, when a deadly shooting took place outside Al-Aqsa compound.
Following the incident, Israeli police briefly shut down the al-Aqsa compound and canceled Muslim Friday prayers at the holy site.
Faced with mounting criticism, Zionist authorities reopened the compound on July 16, but with metal detectors and surveillance cameras put up at entrances.
Since then, however, Palestinians have been refusing to enter the al-Aqsa compound while holding mass prayers outside the site, many of which have turned violent.
Source: AFP
