JERUSALEM, July 22, 2017 (WAFA) – For the second week in a row, Al-Aqsa Mosque remains empty of Muslim worshippers as they are still adamant about entering it for prayer going through metal detectors the Israeli police set up on Sunday after closing the mosque for two days and hold the five daily prayers outside its gates.

The Saturday dawn prayer went peacefully in spite of the presence of a large Israeli police force around the gates to the old city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Tension was high on Friday, the day thousands of Muslims come to worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

It was the first Friday since the installation of the new gates and the second Friday that the mosque is left empty of worshippers in decades.

Police closed the mosque last Friday for Muslims following an attack outside its gates that left three alleged attackers and two policemen dead. The mosque was reopened on Sunday but after metal detectors were installed, a move the Palestinians said they will not accept because it changes the status quo at the mosque.

Since then, Palestinian Muslims have been holding the daily prayers outside the gates to the mosque, insisting that they will not enter it for worship until the metal detectors are removed.

The prayers often end up with clashes with the police, who attack the worshippers with stun grenades, beating and rubber bullets.

On Friday, tension was at a peak as thousands of Muslims performed the noon prayer in the streets to protest the Israeli measures. Police shot and killed three young Palestinians during the confrontations that ensued and wounded hundreds others.

President Mahmoud Abbas has announced Friday night a freeze on relations with Israel over Al-Aqsa crisis.

M.K.