JERUSALEM - Israeli police reopened the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound to Muslim worshippers and tourists on Monday, a day after the latest clashes erupted in and around occupied Jerusalem's flashpoint site.
Dozens of people were wounded on Sunday in clashes between Israeli occupation forces and Palestinians in and around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem.
Kamal Khatib, a spokesman for the Israeli Arab Islamic Movement, which has been at the forefront of demonstrations at the compound, blamed Israel for the violence.
"The police always excuse their attacks by saying that the worshippers threw stones," he told said. "It is clear they just want to justify their crimes."
Twenty-four Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, according to the Red Crescent emergency service. On the Israeli side, nine police officers were injured and three were hospitalised, Rosenfeld said.
The office of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned of "dangerous consequences" and called on Israel to "halt all provocative acts."
"Jerusalem is a red line that cannot be crossed," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
The democratically elected Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip blamed Israel for "this dangerous aggression, which violates every Muslim on the face of the earth."
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal accused Israel of wanting to "destroy" the mosque.
"It is the first step towards dividing the mosque, a prelude to demolishing it and building a temple," Meshaal said in a speech in Damascus, where he is based.
"Jerusalem belongs to its Arab inhabitants, Muslims and Christians. The future (of the city) will not be settled at the negotiating table but on the ground of confrontation and resistance," Meshaal said.
He called on Arab leaders to "withdraw the Arab peace initiative" which offers a normalisation of ties between Arabs and Israelis in return for an Israeli pullout from occupied Arab lands.
Saudi Arabia launched the initiative in 2002.
The Saudi-based Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned the police action as a "violation of all Muslim sanctuaries," and called an extraordinary meeting for November 1 in Jeddah of its executive committee.
He said "frequent" Israeli breaches of the mosque compound, known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount, are "very dangerous and could lead to a negative outcome."
He called on the global Islamic community to take a stand to defend Islamic holy sites, and warned that any damage to the mosque could have "unpredictable consequences" for international peace and security.
The OIC late on Sunday said in a statement it had called an extraordinary meeting for November 1 in Jeddah of its executive committee, which groups Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Malaysia, Senegal, Uganda and Tajikistan.
The meeting, to which the Palestinians and Morocco -- the chair of the OIC's Al-Quds (Jerusalem) committee -- have also been invited, will study "all means available to counteract the Israeli violations," the statement said.
It will also seek ways "to put an end to Israeli aggressions at Al-Aqsa" and "protect, in cooperation with the international community, Christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem."
The Palestinian calls for protests came amid rumours that rightwing Jewish extremists were planning to gather at the compound, radio reports said.
The rumours began after an extreme right Jewish group, the Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights on the Temple Mount, urged Jews to gather at the mosque compound and the adjacent Western Wall.
Palestinian East Jerusalem has been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.
Under international law, neither East nor West Jerusalem is considered Israel's capital. Tel Aviv is recognised as Israel's capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.
In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.
Declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.
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