Israel’s police have lifted age restrictions on access by Muslim worshipers to weekly prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque for the first time in weeks.
On past Fridays, the police have barred access to Palestinian men under 35 or 50 years of age.
The restrictions, imposed amid escalating protests and clashes in East Jerusalem, were removed after a meeting in Amman on Thursday between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Kerry, who met Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas separately, said “firm commitments” were made to maintain the status quo at the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims.
The Secretary of State said Israel and Jordan agreed to take steps to “deescalate the situation” in Jerusalem and to “restore confidence”: “We are not going to lay out each practical step; it is more important they be done in a quiet and effective way.”
Netanyahu had met King Abdullah once and possibly twice in the past week to discuss the situation in East Jerusalem, where several Palestinians have been killed by security forces and Israelis have been slain in stabbings and hit-and-run attacks with vehicles.
On Thursday evening, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was seriously hurt during a demonstration in East Jerusalem’s Issawiya neighborhood after he was struck in the face by a sponge bullet fired by Israeli riot police. Unrest was also reported in the Abu Dis neighborhood.