国际英语新闻:West Bank, East Jerusalem clashes continue over Al-Aqsa mosque measures

RAMALLAH, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Anger is spreading in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, after Israeli government has installed new security measures at the entrance of East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque since July 14.

Palestinians demonstrate daily in various places in East Jerusalem and West Bank cities that often turns out to deadly clashes with Israeli forces.

On Tuesday, some Palestinians held a sit-in at the International Red Cross office in the West Bank City of Ramallah. Then they marched towards Bet El check point, opposing Isreali measures at Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

On July 14, three Palestinians and two Israeli officers were killed in a shooting attack inside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, to which the Israeli government responded by installing new surveillance cameras and metal detectors to search Palestinians walking into the Islamic site.

On Tuesday morning, Israeli authorities removed the metal detectors and some of the cameras and started installing alternative wide gates, according to sources in the city. But it is not yet known what the new security measures will include.

The decision came right after a deal was reached between Jordanian Monarch, King Abdullah II and Israeli Prime Minister in the wake of a shooting attack in which an Israeli embassy guard shot dead two Jordanians in Amman.

The deal included returning the guard who killed the two Jordanians to Israeli authorities in return for removing the new gates at Al-Aqsa mosque.

However, the top Muslim clerics said in a statement Tuesday morning the new measures are still unacceptable and demanded that the situation returns as it was prior to July 14.

Said Shweiki, Member of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian Arab Front and Member of the Palestinian National Council said at the Tuesday's demonstration that the demonstrators were faced with excessive force.

"I am with our people at the gates on a daily basis. There is tough oppression by occupation police forces and border guards. However, our people don't fear this power because their will is solid and committed to their cause," said Shwieki to Xinhua.

He added "our people in Jerusalem will continue their struggle until the smart cameras are removed."

Palestinians say the holy shrine is important to every person and holds a special place in the collective narrative. This is why the anger resulted in spiral confrontations with the Israeli forces stationed near settlements and military checkpoints in the West Bank or inside the Old City of Jerusalem.

An anonymous demonstrator said "Al-Aqsa mosque to every Palestinian is something that touches the heart. It is not just a religious building."

He explained that this is why "the popular movement is spreading widely and the spark has created a snow ball effect, which would cost the Israeli government dearly."

The young man said "we will not accept half way solutions; they either remove everything and return to the situation before July 14 or we will continue what we are doing."

The daily clashes have reflected a unified position led by the top Muslim clerics in Jerusalem, who ordered worshippers not to use the gates to enter to Al-Aqsa mosque.

As a result, hundreds of Palestinian men and women showed up at the gates to hold public prayers and sit-ins until the Israeli government would remove the gates.

Coordinator of Islamic and National Factions in Ramallah Governorate Issam Baker told Xinhua that "the issue is well beyond ten days, for years. The occupation state has been trying to bring the Palestinian people to it's knees and impose unilateral solutions, but there are angry youth and an entire generation is frustrated that is breaking out as waves of outrage in the face of the occupation."

Baker warned that "harming the Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem and especially Al-Aqsa mosque, which has been subject to daily raids, excavations, enforcing new gates and humiliating human dignity, defies all spiritual and man made laws."

Many believe that Israel has for long planned to take over Al-Aqsa mosque, through controlling the access into the Muslim shrine by using the shooting attack on July 14 as a pretext to break the historic status quo in the old city.