Daily Times

JERUSALEM: A third Palestinian was killed on Friday after clashes erupted between Israeli forces and protesters over new security measures at a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site, the Palestinian health ministry said.

“A Palestinian was killed after he was shot in the heart by live bullets,” the ministry said of the incident in Abu Dis in the occupied West Bank. It provided no further details on the circumstances, but identified him as Mohammad Lafi, 18.

The Israeli army confirmed it was involved in clashes in Abu Dis. Another Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli gunfire in the A-Tur neighbourhood of east Jerusalem, according to the ministry. He was identified as Mohammad Abu Ghannam, 20.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian was killed by gunfire in east Jerusalem’s Ras al-Amud neighbourhood, the ministry said. He was identified as Mohammad Sharaf, 17, but the circumstances were also not clear.

Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians erupted around Jerusalem’s Old City and in the occupied West Bank on Friday over new security measures at a highly sensitive holy site.

Friday’s unrest came after Israeli ministers decided not to order the removal of metal detectors erected at entrances to the Haram al-Sharif mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, following an attack nearby a week ago that killed two policemen.

In anticipation of protests on Friday, Israeli police barred men under 50 from entering Jerusalem’s Old City for prayers, while all women were allowed in.

A wave of unrest that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of at least 287 Palestinians or Arab Israelis, 44 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP toll.

Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Published in Daily Times, July 22^nd , 2017.