Israel extends lockdown as tensions rise over settlements
Israel on Saturday extended a lockdown on the occupied West Bank and restricted access to the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem as tensions soared over its latest settlement plans.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak extended until Tuesday at midnight the lockdown on the West Bank, which was due to end Saturday night, because of a continued risk of attacks, an armed forces spokesman said.
Israel sealed off the West Bank on Friday after the announcement that it planned to build new homes for Jewish settlers in mainly Arab east Jerusalem sparked a row with Washington and fuelled anger in the Palestinian territories.
In a statement, the military said people needing to pass for humanitarian reasons, medical workers and patients, religious workers teachers and other professionals would be permitted to cross subject to Israeli authorisation.
On Saturday Israeli troops clashed in the West Bank with Palestinian women and youths protesting against the settlement plans.
Israeli police also said access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem would be restricted to men under 50 on Sunday because of fears of violence.
Muslim women will not be affected, although “visitors from other religions will be barred from entering,” spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
The compound housing Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock is Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Jews call the site Temple Mount and consider it to be Judaism’s holiest site.
Restrictions have been enforced since March 5 when police battled Muslim protesters at the mosque after weekly prayers.
Police reinforcements deployed around east Jerusalem amid the tensions in the city will remain in place, Rosenfeld added.
Two Israelis were slightly injured on Saturday night when a petrol bomb was hurled at cars on a highway linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, police said.
In a separate incident, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Qassam rocket into Israeli territory but caused no damage or injury, Israeli police said.
(Source: AFP)
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