(AFP) - Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority backed calls for worshippers to return to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Thursday, after Israeli authorities removed security measures from the entrance to the Temple Mount.
Abbas told a news conference, "The prayers will happen, God willing, inside the Al-Aqsa mosque," moments after Muslim authorities announced an end to a nearly two-week boycott of the site over new Israeli metal detectors, cameras and railings installed after a July 14 attack killed two policemen.