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Islamic leaders boycott Jerusalem site over metal detectors

Israeli border police officers stand guard as Muslim men pray outside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem, Sunday, July 16, 2017. Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem, said Sunday that arrangements at the Muslim-administered holy site need to return to how they were before a deadly attack last week, in which three Arab Israelis shot dead two police officers before being killed. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) Israeli border police officers stand guard as Muslim men pray outside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem, Sunday, July 16, 2017. Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem, said Sunday that arrangements at the Muslim-administered holy site need to return to how they were before a deadly attack last week, in which three Arab Israelis shot dead two police officers before being killed. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

By Associated Press July 17, 2017 1 min read

JERUSALEM (AP) – Islamic leaders have called on Muslims to boycott a Jerusalem holy site after Israel set up metal detectors at the entrance gates following a deadly Arab attack there last week.

Israel set the security measures when it reopened the site – sacred to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount – on Sunday. The site was shut on Friday after three Arab Muslim citizens of Israel opened fire there, killing two police officers.

The, Waqf, Jordan’s Islamic authority that manages religious affairs of the site, together with other Muslim groups, called on the faithful “not to enter the mosque.”

It says that if “metal detectors continue to be imposed, we call upon the people to pray in front of the gates.”