Jerusalem Mayor Tries to Calm Muslim Ire

Israeli police officers secure the area following a protest by Palestinians against current Israeli government's construction works near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday. Feb. 11, 2007. The Israeli Cabinet Sunday voted to proceed with the contentious construction project at the disputed holy site in Jerusalem, a government official said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (Lefteris Pitarakis - AP)

Israeli hard-liners also criticized Lupolianski, saying he caved in to Arab pressure.

Lawmaker Arieh Eldad called it "a disgraceful surrender to the threats from the Arabs of Israel and the Arabs and Muslims of the neighboring countries that if we behave as a nation behaves in its capital, they will ignite the Middle East."

Speaking to Israel Radio, he said the fight over the walkway is really a fight over the sovereignty of Jerusalem.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, where the disputed hilltop and other religious sites are located, in the 1967 Mideast war and considers the entire city its undivided capital. The Palestinians hope to make east Jerusalem the capital of a future independent state.

Yona Metzger, one of Israel's chief rabbis, visited the construction site Monday, calling on the government to continue work and terming allegations that Muslim holy places could be harmed "nonsense." Metzger also called for calm.

"We don't want any problems here. This is a holy place for us as well," he said.

The compound is the holiest site in Judaism, revered as the home of the biblical Temples. It is Islam's third-holiest shrine.

The compound has been a catalyst for earlier rounds of Israel-Palestinian fighting. The new construction sparked several days of Palestinian protests, and Muslim nations also condemned the work.

On Monday, police charged Muslim leader Raed Salah with attacking police officers during a demonstration last week against the construction, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Salah, a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, has been the leading critic of the repair work.

After Salah scuffled with police outside the shrine last Wednesday, authorities briefly detained him for questioning and issued a 10-day restraining order barring him from Jerusalem's Old City. Police wanted the courts to extend the restraining order a further 60 days, Rosenfeld said.