Israeli army is currently working to find an alternative solution to the walk-through gates that has been placed by the Israeli police forces at the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque to inspect the worshipers, Israel’s Haaretz reported yesterday.
Officials at the Israeli military have stressed that the technological alternative and new security arrangements, which included sophisticated security cameras with facial-recognition software, must be installed before the clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli forces could reach the point of “no return.”
The army’s effort came amid fears that the “Palestinians can try to enlist outside support by refusing under the existing circumstances to enter the place that is sacred to them,” according to the Israeli newspaper.
The situation at Al-Aqsa “must get back to normal no later than Thursday, so as to restore calm in time for Friday prayers at the site,” the newspaper quoted officials as saying.
According to Haaretz, the decision of installing the metal dictators at the entrances of Al-Aqsa, have aroused a wave of protests among Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank and have also stretched across the Arab world, “was taken without neither a discussion nor an in-depth consideration.“
The Hebrew newspaper also quoted senior police sources as saying that the Israeli public security minister, Gilad Erdan, did not work in accordance with the electronic gates installation plan that was approved in 2014.He recently underlined the gates would be kept “as long as an alternative is yet to be found.”
Erdan was reported to have supported the e-gates idea which he had presented to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to the installation. He also held consultations only with the Israeli police, Roni Alsheikh , and the Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevi, whom had supported the move.
Over the past two weeks, Al-Aqsa compound has been witnessing bloody clashes as Palestinians are being forced by the occupation police foces to walk-through security gates before entering the holy site. The Palestinian Authority (PA) and national and religious figures in Jerusalem have voiced their rejection to all the alternative measures to the electronic gates placed at the entrances of Al-Aqsa.
Amid a mounting toll of deaths and injuries in the crisis, Israelis and Palestinians are braced for weeks of confrontation, as both sides appeared to dig in to their positions.

Source: Quds Press International News Agency
Translated by: Middle East Monitor
In collaboration with the Palestinian Media Forum