Abbas Freezes ‘All Contacts’ with Israel Over Temple Mount Metal Detectors

The Times of Israel reports: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced late Friday he was freezing all contacts with Israel.

I, on behalf of the Palestinian leadership, announce… a freeze of all contacts with the occupation state on all levels until Israel commits to canceling all the measures against our Palestinian people in general and Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa mosque in particular,” Abbas said to applause from officials convened in PA headquarters in Ramallah.

He specifically castigated the deployment of metal detectors at the Temple Mount compound — placed there by Israel after a July 14 terror attack in which three Arab-Israelis shot dead two Israeli police officers there with guns they had smuggled into the holy site. Abbas called the measures “falsely presented as a security measure to take control over Al-Aqsa mosque.”