Israel's prime minister called for calm and restraint Sunday amid violent clashes between Israeli authorities and Palestinian protesters over the disputed Temple Mount, known as the Noble Sanctuary among Muslims, in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet over the weekend that the sacred Temple Mount continues to remain open for people of all faiths and vows of his commitment to maintain the status quo to prevent the escalation of violence in the area.

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While it is easy to stir religious conflicts, it is so much harder to quell them, Netanyahu said, adding that the same message has been delivered to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The site - sacred to Israelis as the location of the Jewish temples in biblical times and to Muslims as it is the present location of the third holiest site in Islam where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque stand - was reopened Sunday for Muslim visitors.

The site is also sacred to Christians who are drawn to the ruins of the Jewish temple where Jesus worshipped.  

All Muslims except people of certain age were barred from visiting the site Friday following an assassination attempt to Israel's leading proponent for increased Jewish access to the area.

Palestinians and the Jordanian government, the official custodian of the Al-Aqsa compound, denounced the move.

Jordanian King Abdullah II vowed to use all means necessary to preserve the holy sites and to confront Israel until "peace is restored in the land of peace," The New York Times quoted him as saying.

In a statement, Abbas commended Netanyahu's call for the status quo.

The Jewish leader earlier accused the Palestinian president of rousing Arab violence. In previous remarks, Abbas called for banning Jews from the religious site.

The fate of the contested Temple Mount in east Jerusalem is part of the protracted conflict between Israel, which captured the hilltop during the 1967 war, and the Palestinians, who seek to turn the area into the capital of the future State of Palestine. 

TagsTemple Mount, Noble Sanctuary, Dome of the Rock, State of Palestine, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Benjamin Netanyahu