RIYADH, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia on Monday called on the international community to stop Israel's "aggression" in East Jerusalem amid a row over the holy Muslim site of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired a cabinet meeting in Jeddah, in which a number of topics, including the escalation of violence in East Jerusalem between Israel and Palestinians, were discussed, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The meeting reiterated "the Kingdom's condemnation and denunciation of the measures taken aby Israeli authorities at Al-Aqsa Mosque and its closure before worshipers," Minister of Culture and Information Awwad bin Saleh Al-Awwad said in a statement.
Saudi called on the international community "to shoulder its responsibilities towards the continuation of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people," it said.
Saudi government also stressed it supported the statement issued by an emergency session of the permanent representatives to Arab League (AL) that condemned Israel's latest moves and violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
AL Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Ghiet warned Israel on Sunday that Jerusalem is "a red line" that cannot be bypassed.
"Israel is playing with fire and is igniting a big crisis with the Arab and Muslim world because of its measures in Jerusalem," Aboul-Ghiet's spokesman said in a press statement.
Clashes have erupted nearly daily between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces since July 14 after a shooting incident at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in which three Israeli Arab gunmen shot dead two Israeli police officers before killed by the police.
Israel has since installed metal detectors and security cameras at the entrances to the mosque as measures to prevent further attacks, and even limited access to the compound by Palestinian Muslim worshipers.
The Palestinians and the Muslim world as a whole have condemned the Israeli measures as an attempt to claim further control over the compound, also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.
On Friday, three Palestinian protesters were killed and hundreds others injured in clashes with Israeli troops in East Jerusalem and West Bank.
The Israeli measures added new tension to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that has lasted for decades, since the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, in the 1967 war.
The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital city in light of the UN-proposed two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders.
