Israel has prepared a major security operation for the first Friday Muslim prayers of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem.
A police spokesman said 2,000 police had been ordered to deploy in Arab East Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of Muslims were expected to worship at Al-Aqsa mosque, and along Israel's border with the West Bank.
The way to the shrine in Jerusalem's walled Old City is barred to most of the devout from the West Bank and Gaza.
Israeli tanks and troops briefly raided two Palestinian-ruled towns in the Gaza Strip and West Bank yesterday, killing one Palestinian and wounding at least 14 others.
The violence preceded a weekend visit to the Middle East by European Union leaders that an EU official said was unlikely to produce a quick fix to the violence.
Earlier, Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat marked the 13th anniversary of his symbolic declaration of a Palestinian state by saying it would be an absolute guarantee for peace and stability in the Middle East.
Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres told the UN General Assembly yesterday there was support in Israel for a Palestinian state. But he side-stepped political trouble at home by saying it was not official policy.