DHAKA: Israel eased restrictions at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday after US Secretary of State John Kerry announced agreement on steps to reduce tensions at the flashpoint compound.

The site, which is holy to Jews as well as Muslims, has been the focus of months of unrest in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, that has spread to the occupied West Bank and Arab communities across Israel, raising fears of a new Palestinian uprising, reports the Straits Times.

The Palestinians have been infuriated by a far-right Jewish campaign for prayer rights at Al-Aqsa that threatens an ultra-sensitive, decades-old status quo.

The violence prompted Kerry to holds a flurry of meetings with the two sides in neighboring Jordan on Thursday, after which he announced unspecified confidence-building measures to ease the underlying tensions.

BDST: 1745 HRS, NOV 14, 2014