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Sixteen Palestinians were injured in clashes with police outside Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday.
The clashes occurred as an ongoing controversy over Israeli security measures at a Jerusalem holy site fueled outrage by Palestinians.
The sixteen were injured by rubber bullets and stun grenades near the Lion’s Gate entrance to the Old City, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Jerusalem police said that they used riot control measures after Muslim worshippers began to throw stones and objects.
Israel placed metal detectors at the holy site known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims following an attack on July 14 that killed two police officers near the site.
In an apparent bid to quell tensions with the Palestinians and the greater Muslim world, Israel removed the metal detectors and said authorities would install new “advanced technologies’’ over the next six months.
The Muslim religious authority that administers the holy compound and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said that Israel must remove any security measures installed after July 14 and refrain from adding any additional measures.
The Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary is sacred to both religions, as it houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine, but also the ruins of the Biblical Jewish Temple.
Wasel Abu Yousef, an executive committee member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, told the Palestinian Maan News Agency that Palestinians should increase protests and march to Israeli Army checkpoints in the West Bank.
In the past week, clashes with police have led to the death of four Palestinians. (NAN)
