Ammar Awad
Israeli authorities have begun removing metal detectors from outside a holy site in Jerusalem to defuse a crisis that led to some of the city’s worst violence in years. Six people were killed over the weekend amid clashes sparked by the new security measures around the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israeli authorities said metal detectors were necessary after a fatal attack on Israeli security forces; Muslim leaders saw the move as a way for Israel to gain control of the Jordanian-run mosque. The site where the mosque sits, known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Palestinians as the Noble Sanctuary, has long been a cause of tensions. After a phone call in which Jordan’s King Abdullah II reportedly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “remove the cause” of the tensions late Monday, the Israeli security cabinet announced early Tuesday that other measures would be used at the site to “ensure the security of visitors and worshippers.”