Abbas urges Palestinians to protect Al-Aqsa by 'all means'

Ramallah: Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Friday called on his people to prevent Israeli settlers from entering Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque and use "all means" to protect the site.

His comments came days after Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters demonstrating against Jews visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site but which is also revered by Jews.

"It is not enough to say the settlers came, but they must be barred from entering the compound by any means. This is our Aqsa... And they have no right to enter it and desecrate it," Abbas said.

The Palestinian president was speaking at a conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah after a spate of clashes this week since a Monday confrontation between Palestinian youths and Israeli police.

Abbas insisted that defending Al-Aqsa was tantamount to defending Jerusalem, which the Palestinians are demanding as the capital of their future state.

"Jerusalem is the jewel in the crown and it is the eternal capital of the Palestinian state. Without it, there will not be a state," he said.

"It is important for the Palestinians to be united in order to protect Jerusalem," he added.

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza in a rally for Al-Aqsa organised by the Islamist Hamas movement.

In Jerusalem, the weekly Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa mosque passed without incident after Israeli police barred entry to Palestinian men under the age of 50 to prevent disturbances.

The site is the scene of frequent tensions and also houses the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine.

It is revered by Jews, who call it the Temple Mount, as the location of the biblical Jewish temples and considered Judaism's holiest place.

Non-Muslim visits to Al-Aqsa complex are permitted and regulated by police, but Jews are not allowed to pray at the site for fear it could trigger major disturbances.

Jews pray instead at the Western Wall below.

Muslims fear Jewish presence on Al-Aqsa is aimed at usurping the site.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that "Israel is committed to maintaining the status quo" there.