To end the clashes between the Arabs and Jews, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said his country is “committed” to the status quo that bans Jews from praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.
The jews ban for prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque is the focal point of recent clashes, he said.
“Israel is committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount,” Lapid said during a press briefing, using the Israeli name of the site which is holy to both Muslims and Jews, reports Xinhua news agency.
He said that Muslims pray on the Temple Mount but non-Muslims (Jews) visit. They cannot pray. Israel has no plans to divide the Temple Mount between religions, he clarified.
He said Hamas, a Palestinian militant group encourages young Muslims to hurl stones and fire crackers at the Israeli Police. Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, Lapid said.
Their stone throwing force the Israeli police to entre the Mosque to throw them out.
At least 200 Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli police since April 15, the day the Jewish week-long holiday of Passover began as Muslims have been observing their holy month of Ramadan.
The Palestinians accused Israel of triggering the clashes by allowing thousands of Jews to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which Jews revere as the site of their biblical-era temple that was destroyed in AD 70, to mark the holiday.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has been administered by Jordan but secured by the Israeli police.
Under a long-held status quo, Jews are allowed to visit the site but not to pray there.