Israel to remove metal detectors at sensitive holy site

Israeli ministers have decided to stop the use of metal

detectors at a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site, a statement said

early Tuesday, after the new security measures set off deadly unrest.

The

security cabinet accepted "the recommendation of all the security

bodies to change the inspection with metal detectors to a security

inspection based on advanced technologies and other means," a statement

from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

Security

forces were already seen removing at least some of the metal detectors

late Monday night, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported.

As word spread of the decision, a few hundred

Palestinians gathered to celebrate near an entrance to the Haram

al-Sharif mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount. One person

set off a firework, prompting Israeli police to raid and disperse them

using sound grenades.

Israel installed metal

detectors at entrances to the Jerusalem site, which includes Al-Aqsa

Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, after an attack on July 14 that killed

two policemen.

Palestinians view the new security measures as Israel

asserting further control over the site. They have refused to enter the

compound in protest and have prayed in the streets outside instead.

Israeli

authorities said the metal detectors were needed because the July 14

attackers smuggled guns into the site and emerged from it to shoot the

officers. Clashes have broken out during protests over the measures,

leaving five Palestinians dead.

Three Israelis were also killed when a Palestinian sneaked into a house in a West Bank settlement and stabbed them.

The

decision to remove the metal detectors follows talks between Netanyahu

and Jordan's King Abdullah II. Jordan is the official custodian of

Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.