Palestine – For the first time since 1969, Israeli police closed and cancelled Friday Jumuah in Al Aqsa masjid after three Palestinians and two Israeli police officers were killed in a shootout in Al Aqsa compound. The decision provoked anger among Palestinians, and they gathered outside the Old City walls prayed on mats that they laid on the streets and protested the Israeli decision. In a dangerous precedent, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a decision to shut Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevent any prayers inside it. The first time Friday prayers were cancelled was in 1969, following the burning of the mosque, Israeli calls for the full and final closure of al-Aqsa are escalating as an initial response to the killing of the two Israeli policemen.
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