Jerusalem:Â Israel said on Sunday it would not remove metal detectors whose installation outside a major Jerusalem shrine has triggered the bloodiest clashes with the Palestinians in years, but could eventually reduce their use.
Fuelling fears of an escalation, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would halt security ties with Israel until it scraps the walk-through gates installed at entrances to al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, an area known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
However Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to convene his security cabinet to weigh alternatives.
However, his right-wing government is wary of being seen to yield to Palestinian pressure over the site, which Jews revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples and which was among areas of East Jerusalem that Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed as its capital in a move not recognised internationally.
Read the full article by Dan Williams at the Sydney Morning Herald.