Israel has said it would not remove metal detectors whose installation outside a major Jerusalem mosque has triggered the bloodiest clashes with Palestinians in years.
However they have indicate that the use of metal detectors at entrances to Al-Aqsa mosque could eventually be reduced.
Fueling fears of an escalation, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would halt security ties with Israel until it scraps the walk-through gates installed at entrances to the mosque plaza after two police guards were shot dead on 14 July.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to convene his security cabinet at 7.30pm (5.30 Irish time) to weigh alternatives.
However, his right-wing government is wary of being seen to yield to pressure over the site, which Jews revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples and which was among areas of East Jerusalem that Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed as its capital in a move not recognised internationally.
"They (metal detectors) will remain. The murderers will never tell us how to search the murderers," Tzachi Hanegbi, Israeli minister for regional development, told Army Radio.
"If they (Palestinians) do not want to enter the mosque, then let them not enter the mosque."
Incensed at what they perceive as a violation of delicate decades-old access arrangements at Islam's third-holiest site, many Palestinians have refused to go through the metal detectors, holding street prayers and often violent protests.
Israeli security forces shot three demonstrators dead on Friday, Palestinian medics said.
Police said they were investigating the charge.
A fourth Jerusalem-area Palestinian was killed yesterday when an explosive device he was building went off prematurely, the Israeli military said.
Palestinian medics said he died of shrapnel wounds to the chest and abdomen.
In a sign unrest was spreading, a Palestinian stabbed three Israelis in the occupied West Bank on Friday after vowing on Facebook to take up his knife and heed "Al-Aqsa's call".
A rocket was launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip today but hit an open area, causing no damage, Israel's military said.
Gilad Erdan, Israel's public security minister, warned of potential "large-scale volatility" - a prospect made more likely in the West Bank by the actions of Mr Abbas.
