Israeli police on Sunday arrested the head of the Islamic authority that oversees Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, following violent protests last week on the Temple Mount.
Sheikh Abdelazeem Salhab, a cleric appointed by neighboring Jordan, was arrested early Sunday.
Jordanian Islamic Affairs Minister Abdul Nasser Abul Basal said the Israeli action was "dangerous and an unacceptable escalation" that affected Jordan's role as the custodian of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, according to the Petra news agency.
Israeli police confirmed the arrest Sunday, and the waqf later said police had released Salhab and banned him from entering the site for a week.
In Jerusalem on Friday, protesters chanting "Allahu akbar" (God is great) streamed into the Golden Gate area, a sealed-off part of the Temple Mount.
Tensions at the Gate of Mercy shrine, adjacent to the Golden Gate, have escalated in recent days and similar protests turned into scuffles with police earlier this week. Anticipating unrest, police arrested 60 Palestinians overnight Thursday suspected of causing disturbances and inciting violence.
Israel blocked off the Gate of Mercy structure in 2003 because it was home to a heritage organization with terrorist affiliations.
Police accused the waqf of attempting to change the status quo at the sensitive site by convening in the closed area last week.
Israel Hayom reported last week that the Palestinians and Jordanians have established a joint council to manage the Temple Mount and holy sites in Jerusalem as the first step of a plan to torpedo the Trump administration's "deal of the century" for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Middle East analyst Yoni Ben-Menachem of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who discovered the plan, called it a "move that violates the Oslo Accords and strikes a dangerous blow to Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem."
Senior officials in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' office and the Fatah movement confirmed to Israel Hayom that cooperation with Jordan had been stepped up recently, ahead of the expected publication of U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan.
On the Gaza border, meanwhile, IDF troops on Friday shot and killed a Palestinian teenager and wounded around 40 others at the weekly March of Return protest attended by thousands.
The IDF said it was acting against rioters, some of whom tried throwing grenades and explosive devices at troops.
An IDF spokeswoman said soldiers had used "riot dispersal means" and opened fire "in accordance with standard operating procedures."
