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Jerusalem. Israel on Wednesday lifted its tight restrictions on Palestinian access to Jerusalem’s holiest shrine and called off an extended West Bank closure after days of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

Despite moving to end the lockdown, Israel still kept thousands of police officers on alert as an uneasy calm settled over the holy city.

The recent violence has taken place against a backdrop of growing Palestinian frustration over a yearlong standstill in peace talks and dovetailed with the worst US-Israeli diplomatic feud in decades.

On Tuesday, the United States and Israel signaled they were trying to move beyond the crisis that erupted when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 apartments in disputed east Jerusalem during Vice President Joe Biden’s visit last week. Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.

In an unusual twist in a week of heightened rhetoric in the US-Israeli relationship, Netanyahu also distanced himself on Wednesday from comments by his brother-in-law, an ultranationalist who called the US president an anti-Semite in a radio interview.

“I have a deep appreciation for President Obama’s commitment to Israel’s security, which he has expressed many times,” Netanyahu said in a statement, disavowing himself from all comments made by Hagai Ben-Artzi, his wife’s brother.

While there were no reports of new clashes in Jerusalem, sporadic violence broke out on Wednesday in the West Bank. The most serious incident occurred in the city of Nablus, where dozens of Palestinian youths hurled rocks at Israeli security forces, some using slingshots and even a shovel to increase their range.

Israeli troops responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Medical personnel said two Palestinians were wounded.

The recent protests have been fueled by the plans for more Jewish housing in east Jerusalem and unsubstantiated rumors that Jewish extremists are planning to seize the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third-holiest shrine.

East Jerusalem, which saw the heaviest clashes in months after similar rumors surfaced earlier this week, was quiet on Wednesday.

Israel lifted restrictions on Palestinian access to Al-Aqsa, a day after the heaviest violence in months broke out across the city. The Israelis said the decision to end the lockdown was based on intelligence reports.

Israel also rescinded its closure of the West Bank, which had prevented Palestinians there from crossing into Israel.



AP, Reuters